


A Way Back To Then

by Knappster



Series: NYC [2]
Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-20
Updated: 2015-11-21
Packaged: 2018-04-27 05:03:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 26,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5034814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Knappster/pseuds/Knappster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to What Is This Feeling? Any more information might spoil this. (Staubrey side Bechloe)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Stacie wrapped her arm tighter around the sleeping girl by her side and smiled. All the difficulties from the past year seemed to vanish when she was with her. This moment, being here with her, not worrying about exams or papers, not caring about having to drive back, made everything else they'd gone through worth it.

Stacie ran her hand down Aubrey's arm, kissing the blonde's shoulder softly. She remembered the time they hated each other and wondered what would have happened if they hadn't tried to get along, if Chloe and Beca hadn't liked each other and forced them to eat lunch together, if they hadn't been assigned that history project. Stacie wanted to think they would have found each other eventually, not because she believed in fate, but because she couldn't see herself with anyone else. It was probably strange to find the person you wanted to spend the rest of your life with at such a young age. Most people would say that they didn't know enough to know what they wanted, but Stacie knew she would never be as happy with anyone else as she was with Aubrey, and finding her this young only meant she'd get more time with her.

They were two weeks into their summer vacation after their freshman year of college, spending it at Stacie's family house in the Hamptons. They hadn't spent this much time together since last summer, they didn't get more than the weekend most of the time, and their few breaks. It hadn't been as hard as she thought it would be. She missed Aubrey a lot but they would see each other whenever they had time. Sometimes Stacie would drive up to visit her, or they would meet in the city. Stacie had a roommate so Aubrey only went to Princeton when Stacie couldn't make the trip there. They skyped during the week and texted constantly.

Stacie knew it had been harder for Aubrey. It wasn't as easy for her to make friends, and between her pre-law requirements and Stacie, she didn't have a lot of time for a social life at school. Stacie tried to convince her to go to parties whenever she visited but Aubrey didn't want to spend the little time they had together at some loud party with drunk people.

They saw Chloe and Beca whenever they went to the city. Chloe was studying theater at NYU and Beca was half-assing college for her parents and working part time at a record label. They would visit them sometimes, mostly Stacie since she was the closest one. They were going to join them later in the summer, but right now it was just her and Aubrey, and Stacie wouldn't change it for the world.

Stacie felt Aubrey stirring. She turned around to face the brunette and smiled when she saw her eyes were open. She ran a finger down her jaw. "Good morning." Stacie smiled and kissed her. "How long have you been awake?"

"Not long." Stacie traced the necklace on Aubrey's neck, it was the one she had given her on prom night. Aubrey barely took it off. Stacie meant it when she said she'd always love her no matter what, she couldn't think of anything that would make this feeling go away.

Aubrey pressed herself to Stacie's body, her hands moving to the back of her neck. Stacie wrapped her arms tight around the blonde's waist and buried her nose in her hair. Aubrey placed a single kiss behind Stacie's ear and sighed contentedly. "I love you."

* * *

Stacie knocked on the door and waited. She never thought this would happen, let alone that she'd be the one doing it, but it needed to be done. She had waited until they were both done with finals and driven up to Aubrey's apartment. She tried to talk herself out of it the whole way there. She even stopped a couple of times, almost turning around, but she knew it was for the best.

The door opened and the smile on Aubrey's face when she saw her almost made her cry. "Stacie! What are you doing here? You said you were staying at school for a couple more days." She noticed the expression on Stacie's face and her smile fell. "Stace, what's wrong?"

Stacie swallowed the knot in her throat. "We need to talk."

Aubrey frowned and moved to the side, letting Stacie in. She had an idea what Stacie wanted to talk about but she didn't want to think about it. Stacie walked inside and sat down on the couch, her solemn look making Aubrey more nervous by the second. She tried to stall. "Do you want something to drink?"

Stacie shook her head and grabbed Aubrey's hand, pulling her down to sit next to her. She looked at their hands trying to work up the courage to say what she came here to say. "Bree, I think we should break up."

Aubrey didn't respond. She was expecting this, they'd barely seen each other these past few months and when they did see each other they had been too preoccupied by all the things they had to do to really enjoy being together. Stacie had tried her hardest to make it work, she gave Aubrey every second of her free time. Aubrey did too, but they were stretching themselves thin trying to make this work and it wasn't supposed to be this hard.

Stacie ran her thumb over Aubrey's hand. "I don't want to be the reason you don't get everything you're working for."

Aubrey's head whipped up. "You're not, you could never do that." She scooted closer to Stacie and cupped her cheeks. "You make me want to be better."

A tear rolled down Stacie's cheek and Aubrey wiped it with her thumb. "You don't need to be worried about being there for me on top of everything else you have going on. You stress out too much, I hear it when you call me. You feel like you're not giving me enough." She turned and kissed her palm. "You don't need more reasons to stress out."

Aubrey shook her head even though Stacie was right. "Stacie, please, don't do this now. We can go to the Hamptons like last year, just you and me. We'll talk after that."

Stacie pressed her forehead against Aubrey's. "If we go, I won't be able to do this. We have to do this, Bree, we're not working." She took a deep breath and ran her index finger over Aubrey's necklace. "My feelings haven't changed, I still think you're it for me, but we're just not there yet, I don't want to be in your way. Maybe someday we can be together again, when you're a lawyer and I'm whatever."

Aubrey closed her eyes and nodded. "Maybe."

Stacie kissed her forehead. "I love you."

* * *

Stacie dropped her bag on the floor and dropped on the bed groaning. She had spent most of the past year working as a research assistant to one of the professors in the engineering department. She was working over the summer too but she had two weeks before that happened, so she decided to take a break from Princeton and come back to the city.

Someone knocked on her door and her come in was muffled by the bed. The door creaked open. "I really hope that meant I could come in." Beca stepped into her room and jumped on the bed next to her. "I had the doorman buzz me when you arrived. How are you?"

Stacie turned around to face Beca. "Tired. I had to catch up on a month's worth of work after finals." Beca tilted her head and arched an eyebrow. Stacie sighed. "I'm fine. It's been a year, you don't have to look so worried about me all the time. I was the one who broke up with her."

"I still don't understand why you did that."

Stacie sighed "It was the right thing to do."

Beca shook her head and looked away. "Yeah, keep saying that, maybe you'll believe it someday."

Stacie rolled her eyes. "Did you come for a reason other than being a pain in the ass?"

"I'm sorry, Stace, I know it wasn't easy for you." Beca poked Stacie. "I just wanted to talk, I miss my best friend."

"Aw, I miss you too, Becs!" Stacie pulled a struggling Beca into an awkward hug. When Beca realized she wasn't letting go she relaxed into the hug. Stacie pat her back and let her go. "I'm glad Chloe's made you more huggable."

Beca made a show of straightening her shirt and patting down her hair with a huff. "Yeah, I've learned that struggling only makes it longer." Beca looked at Stacie and bit her lip. "I've been thinking about talking to Chloe about moving in together."

Stacie smiled. "That's awesome! Why hadn't you told me?"

Beca shrugged. "I don't know, I didn't want to rub it in."

Stacie pushed Beca's shoulder. "Don't be an idiot, you can tell me things. I'm glad you're happy, Beca."

"Have you gone out with anyone?"

Stacie half shrugged. "Nothing serious."

"Are you still planning on waiting for her?"

Stacie nodded. "As long as it takes."

* * *

Chloe opened the door and tackle hugged Aubrey. "I've missed you so much! I can't believe you're moving further away. What am I going to do?"

Aubrey patted Chloe's arm, which was the only thing she could reach with her arms mostly pinned to her sides by her hug. "You'll be fine, Chlo, it's just three more years. And Boston isn't that far."

Chloe squeezed Aubrey one more time then let go of her, scoffing. "Please, if I barely saw you these past couple of years, I'm not going to see you while you're in law school."

"You can come visit me." Aubrey sat and looked around. "The place looks really good."

"Yeah, it's really coming together nicely. It's pretty easy making design decisions with Beca." Chloe chuckled. "The only thing I'm not allowed to touch is her studio."

"Where is the hobbit? I thought she'd be here annoying me by now."

"Oh, Beca is out with people. She should be back soon." Chloe nodded.

Aubrey smiled sadly at her. "You can say her name, Chlo, it's okay."

"I know, I just feel weird talking about her with you."

Aubrey shook her head and placed her hand on Chloe's arm. "I know she's your friend, you don't have to feel bad about is she?"

"She's good, I guess. She came back a couple of weeks ago. She's been working on something with one of her professors but I don't really know what it is. Beca says it's big though."

Aubrey nodded. "Is she…" She exhaled loudly.

"She's not. But I don't think right now's the best time to reach out to her, you're about to leave again and you're going to have more work than ever."

Aubrey swallowed and her voice sounded strained. "I know, I know. I just... I miss her."

Chloe hugged Aubrey and rubbed her arm. "It'll be okay, sweetie."

Aubrey wiped her cheeks and straightened up. "I'm fine. I mean, I'm not but I will be, eventually."


	2. Chapter 2

Stacie looked out the window of her office. It was dark out but the city was bright with the lights from all the buildings and cars. She looked down at the little cars moving on the street and the people walking around. It was late so there weren't a lot of people out, most of the buildings in that area were offices and all the 9-to-5ers had left hours ago. She had stayed to look over the specs for the new prototype her R&D department sent over. She chuckled at the thought of her having her own anything department, her own office, her own company… it still seemed like a dream.

Her last two years in college she worked with one of her professors. Through their work she came up with an idea for contact lenses that measured eye pressure for patients with risks of glaucoma. At first they had talked about selling the idea to one of the big biotech companies; her professor wasn't really interested in making money and Stacie didn't know anything about the business, but Chloe convinced Stacie to talk to her dad. As soon as Stacie finished telling him her idea, she could see the dollar signs in the venture capitalist's eyes. They had bought out her professor's part and he had helped her start the company, leaving her with the majority of the stock and the rest split amongst him and other investors.

That had been almost four years ago. Now, Rad-tech was a billion dollar company and they were close to going public. Their main product was still the contact lenses but she had a huge research department. Her administrative duties didn't leave her a lot of time to do any research herself, but she was as involved as she could with everything going on there.

A knock on the door made her turn from the window and Beca stuck her head in. "Hey."

Stacie smiled at her best friend. "Hey, what are you doing here?"

"Well, when you failed to answer your cell, I called your assistant and she said you got some new thing from the lab coats downstairs today and you were probably still here geeking out over it."

Stacie narrowed her eyes. "I'm gonna fire that girl."

Beca laughed. "Your whole life would fall apart without her. And it's not her fault you're so predictable."

Stacie crossed her arms and sat on her desk chair. "It wouldn't fall apart, I'll just get a new assistant."

"Come on, Stace, you love Jessica. She makes the best lattes and she's even more anal than…" Beca drifted off.

Stacie rolled her eyes. "Aubrey?"

Beca ran her hand through her hair and half smiled at her. "Yeah, Aubrey." Beca moved a pile of papers and sat on Stacie's desk. "She's actually what I wanted to talk to you about."

Stacie quirked an eyebrow at her. Beca never talked about Aubrey with her. Stacie knew they still saw her often enough. Chloe and her had helped her to move from Boston to DC last year when she finished law school and started working for a firm there, but Chloe was the one who mentioned her once in awhile. Beca never did, and Stacie knew it was because she thought that mentioning her broke their friendship code or something. Stacie didn't mind the fact that Beca liked Aubrey and she wouldn't care if she talked about her, but she avoided it because it often turned into a lecture about her needing to move on.

"She's moving back to New York."

"Oh." Stacie tried to keep her mind from immediately thinking they'd get back together but she couldn't help it. If Aubrey lived here they could try dating again. She had tried dating other people but it always felt wrong. She smiled. "That's great! Is she going to Chloe's show opening?"

"Yeah…" Beca looked down and fiddled with the zipper of her jacket. "She and her boyfriend will be there."

Stacie's mouth opened. She looked at Beca thinking she might have heard wrong but she knew she hadn't. Aubrey had a boyfriend. She had moved on. It had been stupid of her to think she'd wait over 6 years, but a part of her always thought she would, that they would end up together no matter what. "Chloe said you don't have to go if you don't feel up to it but she'd love to have you there."

Stacie swallowed the lump in her throat. "Don't be ridiculous, of course I'll be there." She smiled at Beca. "You look like you just told me someone died, I'm fine, Becs. I'm over her, it's been what? 6 years? We weren't even together for that long. I'm great."

Beca didn't believe her but she didn't say anything. She'd let Stacie process it on her own, maybe she'd want to talk about it later. She had seen Stacie moping over her break up the entire summer after it had happened. She had seen her make excuses for not dating people or for breaking up with someone who seemed perfect for her. She knew she hadn't even tried to get over Aubrey, that she was waiting for her, and for a while Beca thought Aubrey was too.

All through law school, Aubrey hadn't had a serious relationship. It wasn't until she moved to DC last year that she started dating Tom, a member of the house of Representatives in his early thirties. Beca had met him the last time they visited and she hated him, and not just because she knew this would break Stacie's heart. He was a douchey, loud-mouthed Republican and she didn't understand what Aubrey was doing with him. When she asked Chloe afterwards, she shrugged and said their families had known each other for a long time and that her dad loved him.

Beca hadn't mentioned him to Stacie because she figured it didn't matter with Aubrey living in a different city. But when Chloe told her she was moving back just in time for the opening of her show, and that she was bringing him, she knew she had to tell Stacie. She secretly hoped that seeing Stacie again would make Aubrey come to her senses, but she didn't want to get Stacie's hopes up so she didn't mention it.

"Have you had dinner?" Stacie shook her head. "Wanna come over for pizza? Chloe's been having dinner with her castmates all week, tech week bonding or something. I'll let you pick the toppings."

"Sure." Stacie didn't really feel like being alone right now. She packed her things and turned her computer off so they could leave. "You know I'm gonna get olives, right?"

Beca groaned. "I hate olives."

"You said I could pick the toppings!" Stacie called the elevator.

Beca stomped inside with her arms crossed. "Fine, I'll pick them out."

Stacie threw her arm around Beca's shoulders. She felt a little better knowing she'd always have Beca and Chloe even if she couldn't have Aubrey. She kissed Beca's cheek loudly and the shorter girl gave her a disgusted look. "We can get half without olives."

* * *

Aubrey opened her bedside drawer and started throwing stuff in a box. She heard something jingle and she got on her knees to look under the bed to find whatever fell. She reached under the bed and felt around with her hand until it connected with something. She pulled her hand out and looked at the necklace. She traced her finger over the lemniscat. She'd thrown in in the drawer when she moved here and forgot about it, more like tried to forget about it. She still brought her hand to her neck from time to time, expecting it to be there.

She had worn it for a while after Stacie had broken up with her. It was partly a reminder of the promise Stacie had made when she gave it to her, but it also reminded her to try even harder, that losing Stacie hadn't been for nothing. She had taken it off the day she got the job offer in DC. She needed a clean start, she couldn't keep living in the past.

"Babe, are you done packing?"

Aubrey quickly put the necklace in her pocket and turned to face Tom with a smile. "Yes, this is the last box."

"We should leave soon or I'm gonna be stuck driving during rush hour."

Aubrey arched an eyebrow. "I can drive if you want."

"Nah, babe, you just sit there and look pretty." Aubrey turned to close the last box. "I still don't get why you wanna move to that place. You have a great job here, and me."

He wrapped his arms around her from behind and she fought the urge to shrug him off. They'd had this conversation a million times and she was tired of having it. "You know I've always wanted to work on the prosecution's side, getting politicians' kids out of jail isn't my idea of a great job. Besides, I'm from New York."

"So you know how loud and smelly it is." Aubrey rolled her eyes and stepped away from him. "Do you want me to call in a favor? I can probably get you something at the General Attorney's office."

"I don't want you to get me anything, thank you. I have a job." She picked up the box and turned.

He raised up his hands in surrender. "Okay, geez. You can't blame me for wanting you to stay close."

Aubrey smiled at him. She knew he meant well, he just wasn't used to being with someone like her, someone with opinions and goals. They had always known each other, her dad had served with his dad when they were young, but he was older so he never cared about her, and she didn't really think that much about him. A month after she'd moved to DC, she went to a party at the house of one of her firm's clients and he was there. They got to talking and at the end of the night he asked her out.

She liked him: he was nice, her dad loved him, and he was going places, but she wasn't sure that she loved him. He had this annoying habit of doing things that involved her without asking for her opinion, and just informing her that they had a dinner party or that he had made an appointment for her to get a haircut. And, of course, there was that one big flaw he had: he wasn't Stacie. Aubrey had never consciously thought about it, and she tried not to compare them, but it just didn't feel the same.

She put the box in the car, most of her things were already in the moving truck that was getting to her new apartment tomorrow. She walked to the side of the car and looked up at the building she had lived in for the past year. She wasn't really sad about leaving it, she'd wanted to move back to New York ever since she left, but when she got the job offer in DC, it was too good to decline. She promised herself she'd give it a year and if it didn't work out she'd look for something else. It took her less than than two months for her to figure out this wasn't what she wanted. Getting the job offer from the DA's office in New York had been the best thing that had happened to her in a while.

She was startled by a honk coming from the car. She looked inside and Tom was there, looking at her impatiently. She got in the car and texted Chloe that she was leaving. Her show opening was tomorrow. It was her first show on Broadway and Aubrey couldn't wait to see it. After missing most of her off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway stuff, she was happy she could make it to her Broadway debut. It wasn't the lead role, but she had some lines, and Chloe had been really excited. She knew Stacie would be there, her stomach did a whole gymnastics floor routine every time she thought about it, and she wished she didn't have to take Tom, but he had been so sweet offering to drive her up to New York and help her with the move that she couldn't just leave him in her apartment by himself.

She felt the familiar irregular thumping in her heart that occurred whenever she thought about Stacie. It was as if the brunette had literally broken her heart and it was still struggling to beat normally without the little Stacie shaped piece. She knew that Stacie thought she'd broken up with her for the right reasons but she still couldn't bring herself to forgive her. She just left her, and she hadn't cared that Aubrey wasn't ready to end things, she had just given up on them.

She drew in a ragged breath and looked at Tom. Nice, dependable Tom, who she could bring to all her family events and everyone gushed over him. Tom, who probably wouldn't leave her. He smiled and took her hand. She wished she could fall in love with him, that she could find a way to be happy with him. She didn't know how much longer she could keep this up, but she forced herself to try. It wasn't even that she was unhappy with him, it was just the fact that she knew what happy was and she knew what love was and this, them, it wasn't it.

* * *

If Stacie was feeling like she was about to throw up her lunch, she didn't want to know how Chloe was feeling. Except Chloe's nervousness was probably mixed with excitement, and maybe a little fear, Stacie's was pure dread at seeing Aubrey and her boyfriend. She didn't know how she was gonna react but she was expecting the worst. She didn't think she'd clock the guy but she doubted she'd be able to be nice.

She'd done a little research after Beca told her about him, she didn't say much but she gave her just enough details to find him online. He looked boring, like those people you never remembered what they said because they were so boring you spent half the time thinking about something else. He wasn't bad looking, which was probably the reason people voted for him. She didn't get why Aubrey would go out with someone like him, but it wasn't her problem anymore. Chloe had made her promise she'd behave, and she knew how important tonight was for her, so she wasn't going to do anything to upset her. She'd say hi to Aubrey and boring Tom and that's it.

Beca came out of the stage door and made her way to her. Stacie managed a smile. "How is she?"

"Nervous, but she's okay. She kicked me out, said she didn't want me taking too long getting snacks and being late and then making noise when I opened whatever I got."

"Wow." Stacie's eyes widened. "So should we go in?"

"Yeah." Beca looked around. "Why don't you go in and I'll meet you inside?"

Stacie glared at her. She hated when Beca got overprotective. "Becs, I'm gonna see her eventually, I can wait out here with you."

"Oh, okay. I just wasn't sure you'd want to, you know with Tom and all." Beca ran her hand along the back of her neck and looked at Stacie concerned.

Stacie wrapped her arm around the shorter girl's shoulder. "I'm fine! Stop worrying so much. I told you, I'm totally and completely over…" And then she saw her. Her hair was shorter but it suited her, it was straight and it barely reached her shoulders. She saw her turn and spot her across the crowd gathered in front of the theater. She smiled. It wasn't a full smile, but it was genuine and Stacie could feel her stomach doing summersaults and her heart going into overdrive.

Aubrey stopped breathing the moment she saw Stacie. She still looked like a high fashion model, even though she had given that up before college. She smiled at her unconsciously, and she had to stop herself from running to her. She saw her smiling back, her signature half-smile she'd perfected over countless photoshoots, and Aubrey stopped walking. She wasn't ready for this, for her. She was about to turn back when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, is everything okay? Let's go, I think I saw the little snarky one over there."

Aubrey nodded and swallowed, trying to get some moisture into her dry throat. "Yeah, I'm okay."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I'm back on this, I just needed some time to work out some of the details. Let me know what you think!


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey, Becky!" Tom pulled Aubrey through a group of people to where Stacie and Beca where standing.

"It's Beca." She narrowed her eyes at him and turned to Aubrey smiling. "Hey, Bree!"

"Hey." She smiled back but her attention was focused on Stacie.

Stacie opened her mouth to say hello but she was cut off by Tom. "And who are you? I'm positive I'd remember you." Stacie looked at him annoyed at his flirtatious tone and his sleazy politician smile. "I'm Tom, Aubrey's boyfriend."

Stacie shook his hand reluctantly. "Stacie."

"You went to highschool with Aubrey too?"

Stacie frowned at the fact that he clearly didn't know who she was. "Yeah. Shall we go in now? It's pretty late."

Beca nodded and turned. Tom fell into step next to Stacie. "Sorry about that, parking in this city is ridiculous. We had to walk almost as much as if we'd walked from the apartment."

"That's why I told you we should take the subway." Aubrey said rolling her eyes.

He snorted. "Yeah, right."

Aubrey kept looking at Stacie. She hadn't failed to mention Stacie on purpose, but when they'd had the ex conversation, Aubrey said she'd been focused with school, which wasn't a lie. She figured explaining the whole I dated a girl for three years thing to a guy like him would be too annoying. Beca handed them their tickets and pulled Stacie ahead to get some junior mints. Stacie got a vodka with sparkling water, she wasn't gonna get through this sober.

Before they went in to find their seats, Beca grabbed Stacie's hand and made her turn. "Are you okay?"

She gave her a fake smile. "Peachy."

Beca glared at her. "Stace."

Stacie sighed. "I'll be fine, just don't make me sit next to them."

"Okay." Beca gave her hand a squeeze before letting it go.

The usher led them down to the third row where Aubrey and Tom were already waiting. Beca went in first and sat next to a slightly disappointed Aubrey. Beca arched an eyebrow at her and Aubrey could almost hear her sarcastic comment. She knew it was stupid to think Stacie would wanna sit next to her, she didn't need Beca to point it out.

The problem was she didn't know what she had expected. She hadn't said a word to Stacie yet. Not that she'd know what to say to her if she did talk to her, but it just felt so wrong being this close and not even talking.

Tom leaned over her to look at Beca and Stacie. "So, Stacie, what do you do? You look like a model, maybe an actress?"

"Actually, Tom, I own a biotech company. We're relatively new, we're just about to reach the 10 billion dollar worth mark." Stacie smirked when his jaw dropped. "But, yeah, I did some modeling when I was younger. It was really boring."

Tom frowned and was about to respond when the lights turned down. Aubrey pushed him off her and sneaked a glance at Stacie, who had sat back with a smug look on her face. She smiled and turned to face the stage.

* * *

"I thought you said Chloe sang." Tom said as they walked out of the theatre.

"She does, but this was a play, not a musical. There's no singing."

"Yeah, it was boring." He looked around. "Where did Stacie and Becky go?"

"It's Beca, and they probably went to the bathroom." She stood on the sidewalk watching the people walking out. "The party isn't far so we won't need the car."

"There's a party? I thought we were done." He frowned.

"Yes, I haven't seen Chloe yet." She crossed her arms. "You don't have to come."

"No," He hugged her and she stood there awkwardly with her arms still crossed. "I wanna go with you."

She huffed and wrapped her arms around him. "Okay."

Tom smiled leaning down to kiss her and Aubrey stood on her toes so she could reach him. It was a brief kiss, they weren't too big on PDA, and even in private they weren't too touchy-feely. It wasn't that they weren't affectionate with each other, they were just practical about it, no unnecessary touching. It was weird for Aubrey at first, since Stacie used to want to touch her all the time, even if it was just holding her hand, but she didn't feel that need with Tom like she felt it with Stacie.

Stacie stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Aubrey and Tom kissing in front of the theatre. She felt as if someone was squeezing her lungs. Beca grabbed her hand tightly. "Hey, I'm here. You're okay."

Stacie looked at Beca and nodded. "I'm okay."

Beca rubbed her back until she felt Stacie breathing normally again. "Chloe would understand if you didn't come."

Stacie shook her head. "I'm good. Let's go."

They walked up to the couple and Beca cleared her throat while Stacie looked away. "Chloe texted me that she was going to be a while, she said we should head over to the party without her."

Aubrey looked at them and blushed. She turned to look at Stacie but she was already walking away from them. "Yeah, let's go."

They walked by Central Park to get to the place where the party was. Tom looked around smiling. "This is nice."

"See, not everything about New York City is smelly and loud." She bumped him with her shoulder and stuck her tongue out.

"Yeah, there are a couple of things here that I really like."

Stacie groaned and rolled her eyes, speeding up. Beca sprinted to catch up to her. "Dude, slow down."

Stacie didn't slow down. She crossed her arms and shook her head. "I'm here for Chloe, I don't have to be anywhere near those two."

Beca looked back to make sure Aubrey and Tom were out of earshot. "Stace, you broke up with her. You can't be mad at her for moving on."

Stacie's nostrils flared "I know, but I don't have to watch."

Stacie disappeared from the group when they got to the party. Beca stayed with Aubrey and Tom, trying her hardest not to roll her eyes every time Tom said anything. She didn't understand how someone could be so annoying all the time. It was like he was actively trying to say things that made Beca want to punch him.

She was reaching her limit when she felt something crash into her hard. "Beca! Did you see me? Did you like it?"

Beca took a moment to steady herself and catch her breath, blowing red hair away from her face. "You were amazing, Chlo!"

Chloe let her go and turned to hug Aubrey. "Bree! You're here!"

Aubrey chuckled. "I am!"

"I'm so happy you're living here again! It's gonna be just like old times." Chloe stepped away from the hug and grabbed her by the shoulders smiling widely.

"Well, hopefully she will come to her senses soon and move back to DC."

Chloe narrowed her eyes for a fraction of a second before she let Aubrey go and turned to greet Tom with a smile. "Tom, I'm glad you could make it."

"Thanks for inviting me, you were great."

Chloe smiled stiffly and turned around. "Where's Stace?"

"Here!" Stacie appeared behind Beca and Chloe ran to her, throwing her arms around her neck almost as enthusiastically as with Beca. With Aubrey living in a different city, they had gotten pretty close. Stacie could spend the whole morning shopping and getting her nails done with Chloe and the whole afternoon playing Halo with Beca. She was the perfect best friend for both of them.

Aubrey saw Stacie squeezing Chloe tightly and felt a pang of jealousy. Not because she was jealous of Chloe getting hugged by Stacie, but all those years apart had made her miss a lot of things. She knew how close the three girls had become, Chloe talked about Stacie a lot, especially since Aubrey started dating Tom, and she felt a bit like an outsider.

"You were so good, Chlo. I'm really proud." Stacie felt a little better now that Chloe was here. Beca was great when you needed a shot of reality, but for hugs, she'd always call Chloe.

"Thanks, Stace." Stacie was about to pull back but Chloe kept her arms around her. "How are you holding up?"

"Don't worry about me, we're celebrating." Stacie let her go. "We need drinks!"

Stacie turned to find a waiter and Chloe went back to Beca. "How much has she had to drink?"

"I don't know, she's been MIA until now."

Chloe looked at her over her shoulder. "Keep an eye on her."

Stacie came back holding a drink on one hand and a waiter on the other one. "This is Fred, he has drinks."

The waiter smiled sheepishly at them and passed drinks around. Stacie waited until he was done and raised her glass. "To the newest, brightest star on Broadway."

Chloe and Beca didn't let Stacie get away again and tried to control her drinking. Stacie wasn't exactly trying to get wasted but the alcohol made her feel less like punching boring Tom and more like puking on his expensive shoes. He was currently talking about how important it was for him to get reelected for his second term and Stacie was thinking about finding whoever was running against him and making a huge donation to their campaign. "Not getting a second term, especially for someone as young as me, would kill my career."

"Yeah, I get you. One minute you're defending the whole galaxy, and, suddenly, you find yourself sucking down darjeeling with Marie Antoinette and her little sister." Stacie deadpanned.

He opened and closed his mouth confused. "What?"

Beca and Chloe sniggered, but Aubrey couldn't control herself and laughed, clamping her mouth shut when Tom looked at her. "It's from a movie... Toy Story?"

He still looked confused and Stacie shook her head. "I guess you're too old for it. I'm gonna go get a refill."

Stacie lifted her glass and walked to the bar. She got another vodka and went out to the patio. She looked at her watch. She'd probably been here long enough already, she could go home and wallow by herself there.

She took a look around, maybe she didn't have to go home by herself. She saw a guy leaning on the bar. She considered it for a second then dismissed it, she wanted a girl. One of the girls from the play, a brunette in a short red dress, was sitting on a stool next to the guy. Chloe would probably get mad if she slept with one of her castmates, but she was really hot and she'd caught her looking at her at least twice since she went outside. She was about to go over when she saw a familiar head of blonde hair out of the corner of her eye.

"Hey."

Stacie turned to her and forced herself to stand still. "Hey, where's your boyfriend?" She winced. She hadn't meant for the first words she exchanged with Aubrey after six years to sound so bitter but they just came out.

"He's inside, I'm not sure. I wanted to talk to you." Aubrey took a step closer and stopped. "We haven't said a word to each other all night."

Stacie took a step back and looked down at her feet. "Yeah, well, I don't really have anything to say to you."

"Well, I do." Stacie didn't look up. "How are you?"

Stacie shook her head. "No, you don't get to ask me that."

"Why not? I still care about you." Stacie snorted. Aubrey wanted to reach out and touch her but didn't think she should. "I do. You're the one who broke up with me, remember?"

Stacie looked up at her and tilted her head. She didn't understand what Aubrey expected to get out of this conversation. "What do you want?"

"I don't know, Stacie. I thought maybe we could try being friends."

Stacie laughed sadly. This whole situation was ridiculous. She never thought that the next time she saw Aubrey she would be with someone else, asking to be her friend. "We were never friends, Aubrey." She looked at the brunette by the bar again and pointed with her glass. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go find other people to not be friends with over there."

Stacie walked up to the girl and Aubrey watched the way her hips swayed seductively. She bent down and whispered something in the girl's ear and she laughed. Aubrey could feel her stomach turning, and her nails digging into her palms. She knew she had no right to feel jealous, especially with her boyfriend here, but she still felt it. She figured that's how Stacie must have been feeling all night.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, babe, where did you disappear to?"

She took a deep breath and smiled before turning to face Tom. "I just needed some air."

"Are you ready to go home?"

Aubrey looked in the direction of Stacie again. She was leaning on the bar, her mouth still next to the brunette's ear, and her hand on her knee. "Yes, let's get out of here."

Aubrey went back inside and looked for Chloe. She found her on the other side of the room with Beca. "Hey, we're leaving. Tom has to drive back to DC tomorrow."

"Oh, that's sad." Chloe smiled. "I'll call you tomorrow."

She waved goodbye to them and Beca leaned her elbow on her shoulder. "Finally, I didn't think I could fake like I was interested about what he was saying any longer."

Chloe hit her with her elbow. "Don't be mean."

"Please, Chlo, you hate him too." She grabbed food from a passing tray. "She needs to dump him and take Stacie back."

"What we think is not relevant. Aubrey is with Tom and we need to respect that."

Beca arched an eyebrow at her. "Who are you and what did you do with my girlfriend?"

Chloe chuckled and slapped Beca's shoulder. "I'm serious, Becs, we need to let them be. They'll find a way to each other eventually." She twisted her lower lip uncertainly. "I hope."

"Yeah, well it looks like Stacie is finding her way into that girl's pants." Chloe turned to where Beca was pointing. "Hey, isn't that one of the girls from your play?"

"Oh, hell no." Chloe pushed through the party goers and made her way to where Stacie and the girl were talking.

"Stacie! There you are, I've been looking everywhere for you!" She grabbed Stacie's arm and looked at the girl smiling. "Do you mind if I borrow Stacie for a sec? Aws."

She pulled Stacie until the girl was out of earshot. "What the hell, Stacie! We've talked about you sleeping with people we work with."

Stacie looked down ashamed. "I know, I'm sorry. It's just with Aubrey and her boyfriend, and then she asked me if we could be friends, I mean, can you believe it? Friends. Like that would be possible." She chuckled but looked back down when she saw Chloe was still glaring at her. "Anyway, I'm sorry, Chlo. I won't sleep with her."

"Good. And I know this thing with Aubrey has been really hard for you, Stace, but-"

"I know I was the one who broke up with her, I don't need everyone reminding me." Stacie clenched her jaw.

Chloe took her hand. "I was gonna say that sleeping around isn't going to fix anything."

"I know." Stacie looked down again.

"Ditch the girl and come dance with Beca and me, we're better than sex." Chloe winked at her.

Stacie laughed. "Okay, I'll meet you inside in a minute."


	4. Chapter 4

"I'm here! I'm not late!" Chloe sat on the chair across from Aubrey with a smile. "I'm here."

Aubrey chuckled. "I can see that."

Chloe gave a dramatic sigh and dropped her head back briefly. "The train was late and I had to run from the station, but I wasn't gonna be late to our first besties lunch."

"Oh is that what we're calling these?" Aubrey smirked.

Chloe nodded seriously. "Now that you're back, we're having these regularly."

Aubrey smiled. "I'm good with that." She was happy about being closer to Chloe and rebuilding their relationship was one of her top priorities.

Chloe picked up her menu. "So, how's the new job going?"

Aubrey's face lit up immediately. "It's amazing! I mean, I've mostly been doing paperwork so far, but even that is better than anything I did back in DC."

"That's great, Bree!"

The waitress came and took their orders. While Chloe was ordering, Aubrey's phone vibrated and she frowned at it. Chloe noticed she didn't pick it up to reply to whoever was trying to contact her, she just stared at her phone pensively.

When the waitress left, Aubrey looked back up at her and smiled. "How's the play going?"

"It's great. The whole eight shows a week thing is hard, but Beca has a pretty flexible schedule so she's been going in later and staying with me in the morning." Aubrey's phone vibrated again. "Do you need to take that?"

Aubrey frowned and waved her hand dismissively. "No, it's just Tom."

Chloe arched her eyebrows. "Trouble in paradise?"

Aubrey chuckled. "I don't know if I'd call it paradise."

Chloe's eyebrows moved higher, Aubrey had never said anything bad about her relationship with Tom, even though Chloe could see she wasn't exactly happy with him.

"He's been pestering me to move back to DC. He…" She sighed and looked down. "He asked me to move in with him, he said that it wouldn't be that hard to get a job with the DA there, which is probably true."

"But you don't want to." It wasn't a question. Even though it was clear to Chloe that Aubrey didn't want to do it, the blonde was apparently still thinking about it.

"I don't know." Aubrey groaned. "Maybe I should, I'll move back to DC, move in with him, in a year or so he'll propose and we'll get married. I'll stop working, of course, what kind of congressman's wife works while his 2.5 children are growing up? My dad would love that. He calls him Tommy, did you know that?"

Chloe shook her head. She'd been through Aubrey's rants enough times to know it was better to let her continue until she ran out of steam. "I went over for dinner the other day. He asked more about precious Tommy than about me. Do you know what he said? 'You better hope that he doesn't get lonely while you're here'. Like it would somehow be my fault if he cheated on me. Sometimes I don't understand why I even care about what he thinks." Chloe shrugged. "And Tom, I mean, he's not a bad guy. He cares about me, and I guess I could do a lot worse, but is that enough? Should I just drop everything for a guy just because he asks me to? I mean, what would you do if Beca asked you to leave your career here and move with her to LA or something?"

"I guess I'd-"

"No, but that's not the same." Chloe rolled her eyes at herself for thinking Aubrey wanted an actual answer. "You love Beca. You guys are practically married already, you've been together what, eight years?"

"Nine."

"Nine years! See, I've been with Tom for less than a year." She grabbed a breadstick and chewed it thoughtfully.

Chloe waited to speak until she was sure Aubrey wasn't going to start ranting again. "Do you think you'd be happy if you moved to DC for him?"

Aubrey shrugged. "Maybe? I just don't want to decide now! I just started this new job, I got my best friend back, I wanna enjoy being here before I even think about moving away again. I need him to back off."

Chloe tilted her head and thought about her options. She could tell Aubrey that she clearly wasn't in love with him and moving back to DC would be the worst thing she could do, but she had told Beca they shouldn't meddle, and she was sure Aubrey wouldn't decide anything without talking to her first. "Tell him you need some time to think about it."

"I did, but apparently he thinks three days was long enough, he's been texting me all day." Aubrey picked up her phone and waved it. "It must be a slow day in congress."

Chloe chuckled. "And you think ignoring him is the best way to deal with this?"

"It's been working so far." Aubrey bit her lip. "Do you think I should talk to him?"

"If you want him to stop pressuring you then yeah, probably." Chloe stuck her tongue out at Aubrey.

Aubrey rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll call him after work."

* * *

"Dude, move forward, you're blocking me." Beca advanced her character to let Stacie's through. "Okay, I'm gonna run to that other crate, cover me."

Stacie furrowed her brow and moved her thumbs on her gamepad expertly. They fell into silence again as they continued their mission, the only light in the room coming from the 80" TV in front of them. The sound of gunshot came out from the surround sound speakers in Stacie's living room, but it was low enough for them to be able to talk without raising their voices.

Stacie took a quick look at Beca from her side of the couch, she was focused on the game, her tongue peeking out from the side of her mouth. "Do you think I should start dating?"

"What?" Beca hesitated and her character was almost caught in the middle of an explosion. "Shit."

"Dating... Going out with people. You know, what you've been telling me to do for the past 5ish years?"

Beca made sure she was out of the line of fire before answering. "Do you want to?"

Stacie shrugged. "I've just been thinking about it. I mean, if Aubrey moved on maybe I should try doing the same thing."

Beca frowned. She'd been pushing stacie to do exactly that for a long time, but that was before Aubrey returned. She knew her relationship with that dumbass wasn't going to last and she was sure Aubrey still loved Stacie too. But it wasn't fair for Stacie to just wait for Aubrey to realize this. "Who would you go out with?"

"I don't know, I'm sure I can get a date." Stacie chuckled.

Beca paused the game. "You can get someone to sleep with, when have you gone out with someone and didn't end it with sex?"

Stacie thought about it. "Besides Aubrey?" Beca nodded. "I went out with someone once and I started it with sex, does that count?"

Beca glared at her. "Okay, so never."

Stacie rolled her eyes. "What's wrong with sex?"

"Nothing's wrong with sex, but if you're gonna take this moving on thing seriously, it can't just be about that. So the Hunter's gonna have to behave."

Stacie dropped back on the couch with dramatic resignation. "Ugh fine."

"I'll talk to Chloe and send a list of possible candidates to Jess." Beca unpaused the game and they both turned back to the TV.

"You know I don't pay her to pick my dates, right? She's my work personal assistant."

Beca chuckled. "Please, you know she'll love it."

The screen went red when Beca's character got shot and Stacie dropped her controller on the table. "Do you wanna go again?"

Beca took out her cell and looked at the time. Chloe's play was probably ending now. "I should go home, Chloe's gonna be back soon." She stood up and kissed the top of Stacie's head. "Bye, weirdo. I'll send that list to Jess tomorrow."

"Yeah, yeah." Stacie picked up the controller and went to single-player mode. She didn't really want to go out with people, she just didn't really know what else to do now. She didn't really like being alone, she'd just stayed that way because she thought, eventually, she'd get Aubrey back. But Aubrey wasn't an option anymore, she'd moved on, there wasn't gonna be an eventually.

Stacie was barely paying attention to the game and she'd already been killed a few times. She decided to go to bed. Maybe someone on Beca's list wouldn't suck, and if they all did she could still have a good time, Beca didn't have to know.

* * *

Jessica brought Stacie her lunch at the same time as everyday, except she handed her a folder with it this time. The girl usually didn't bring her any new things during her lunch hour, Stacie usually used this time to take care of the things she didn't have time to do in the morning. "What's this?"

"Beca called me this morning, she said you wanted to start dating. That's the final list, I'll set them up as soon as you approve it." Jessica opened the folder. "I added pictures and general information on everyone so you can make your final decision."

Stacie picked up the folder and leafed through it. "Who are these people?"

Jessica shrugged. "People Beca and Chloe know, apparently they've all shown an interest in you at some point. When you've discarded people I will call them and find a time that works for both of you."

Stacie frowned. "So I'm just gonna pick people, like a catalogue, and then I'm gonna meet them for dinner?"

"Or lunch, any meal works really." Jessica stood by the door waiting.

"Okay, I'll look it over." Jessica nodded and left.

Stacie looked at the first person in the folder. He was the accountant who had helped Beca with her taxes last year. Stacie had met him by chance one day she went to Beca's office. He wasn't bad looking but he sounded boring. She flipped to the next page and was surprised to see the picture of the girl she'd been flirting with at Chloe's opening night party. She made a note at the top of the page and continued flipping through the folder. By the time she finished her lunch she had selected three people, two guys and the girl from Chloe's play.

She called Jessica into her office and returned the folder. She smiled widely and took the folder back, telling her she'd add the dates to her calendar. Stacie stopped her when she was walking out of her office. "Jess, I'm sorry about this. I know it's not part of your job to set up dates for me."

The girl shook her head. "Don't worry about it, I'm happy to help."

Stacie smiled at her. "Alright then."

Jessica closed the door to Stacie's office and walked to her desk. She dialed number three on her speed dial and Beca answered almost immediately. "Hey, it's Jessica. She gave me her picks, I'll text you the names."

"Did she suspect anything?"

Jessica glanced at the door nervously as if Stacie could hear her from behind it. She didn't like hiding things from Stacie but she trusted Beca when it came to her boss. "No, she actually seemed a bit excited. Are we sure about this?"

"Don't worry, Jess, it's for her own good."

Jessica wasn't convinced but she didn't really have a choice. She just hoped Stacie wouldn't find out, or at least that she didn't find out she was in on it. "Okay. I'll send you her calendar."

* * *

Beca paused the song she was listening to and picked up her phone. "I don't wanna do this anymore."

Beca sat back on her chair and put her feet up on the edge of her mixing board. "Well, hello to you too, Stace."

"I don't have times for hellos, I'm supposed to be meeting this Todd guy in five minutes. I'm not ready for this, call it off." Stacie had gone into a Starbucks close to the restaurant where she was meeting her date.

"Stace, it's okay. It's gonna be fine, Todd's cool." Stacie whimpered and Beca chuckled. "You can't cancel five minutes before your date, he's probably there already. Look, give it a try and if you really hate it I'll call you and make up an emergency, okay?"

"Okay." Stacie walked back out into the street. "I'll text you and you call me and make it believable."

Beca dropped her feet. "Yeah, but you have to really try. Don't just text me cause he has a weird mustache."

"He has a weird mustache? He didn't have one in the picture Jess showed me!"

Beca rolled her eyes. "I'm hanging up now, have fun."

Stacie put her phone back in her purse and entered the restaurant. She gave her name to the hostess and was led to a table. Her date wasn't there yet and Stacie decided to order a glass of wine while she waited. She got a second one after almost twenty minutes of waiting.

She was finishing her second glass and was about to order the check and leave when the hostess brought her date. "Wow, Beca wasn't kidding when she said you were hot."

He was a skinny guy, he did in fact have a weird mustache, and he was wearing a fedora. Stacie smiled stiffly at him and moved her hand towards her phone to text Beca to get her out of this immediately. The guy saw her phone and grabbed it. "Cell phones are so distracting, don't you think? Do you mind if we turn them off?"

Stacie opened her mouth but he was already pressing the power button on her phone and placed it on the table out of her reach. Stacie reminded herself that she told Beca she'd try so she just nodded and looked at her phone wistfully.

Stacie wanted to die after an hour of ridiculously boring stories about him and his jug band. When the waiter asked if they wanted dessert, Stacie hurried to say no. Todd smiled and made a comment about how bad refined sugar was and Stacie had to stop herself from rolling her eyes for the millionth time that night. The moment the check came, he didn't even make a move to pay saying he knew she could afford it.

Stacie signed the credit card receipt, grabbed her phone and stood up. "I don't think this is gonna work, Todd."

"Was it because I didn't pay?" Todd twirled his mustache.

"Actually, Todd, that was the least annoying thing you did."

He smiled and Stacie looked at him confused. "Well, I guess that's too bad then." He pointed at himself. "You're gonna miss all of this."

"Yeah, that's really sad." She rolled her yes and left.

As soon as she left the restaurant she called Beca. "What the fuck, Beca!"

"I guess it didn't go so bad since you didn't text me to bail you out?"

"He turned my phone off! That was probably the worst date in the history of humanity. What the hell were you thinking?" She waved her free arm as she walked down the street and people had to get out of her way.

"I don't know him that well, Stace, he helps out at the studio sometimes." Beca took a deep breath and had to try really hard not to laugh. "He seemed normal."

"No one with that mustache is normal!"

Beca couldn't help laughing this time. "Fine, I'm sorry. The next one won't be so bad."

"Oh, no. I'm not doing this again. I'm done with dating. I'm good with just sleeping with people, I don't have to listen to boring stories about their boring lives."

Beca rolled her eyes. "Come on, Stace. You really liked that girl from Chloe's play, you should at least go out with her."

"Fine, just her. I'll tell Jess to cancel the other one." Stacie crossed her arms. "I'm gonna go down to the subway, I'll call you later."

"Bye." Beca hung up and burst out laughing.

Chloe came in from the bathroom and got into bed next to her. "Was that Stacie?"

"Yeah, her date sucked. I need to send Todd a gift basket, he really went all the way."

Chloe smiled. "You know, I was really doubtful about this plan but I think you're right, they need a little push."

"Thank you, I know, I'm awesome." Chloe pushed her playfully. "Did you talk to Brianna?"

"Yes, she knows what to say." Chloe nodded. "I need to find a way to mention Stacie's date to Aubrey without it sounding too obvious though."

"We'll think of something." Beca crossed her arms behind her head and smiled. "They'll be back together in no time."

Chloe threw her arm over her waist and put her head on her shoulder. "I hope you're right, Becs."


	5. Chapter 5

Chloe knocked on Aubrey's apartment door and waited. She'd been trying to come up with a casual way of mentioning Stacie's date to Aubrey since last night but she couldn't think of a reason to mention it without it sounding like a scheme. She was startled out of her thoughts when the door opened and Tom appeared behind it buttoning his shirt. "Oh hey, Chloe." He turned and yelled over his shoulder. "Babe, Chloe's here."

He stepped back and Chloe went in. "Hey, Tom, I didn't know you were here."

"Yeah, I drove up this morning. It was a surprise." He winked at her and turned away, finishing buttoning up his shirt. Chloe looked around and saw a huge bouquet of red roses in a vase on the bar between the living room and the kitchen.

Aubrey came out of the bedroom putting on her shoes and grabbed her purse. "I'll be back later."

Tom stopped her with a hand on her waist when she passed by his side and kissed her. "Have fun. Later, Chloe!"

"Bye." Chloe waved at him and walked out.

When the door closed, Chloe arched an eyebrow at Aubrey. Aubrey bit her lip and looked back at the door. "Can we wait to talk about it until we get to where we're eating?"

Chloe nodded and followed her downstairs. They went to a place nearby and got seated immediately. Chloe waited until they'd gotten settled and looked at Aubrey expectantly. "He got here this morning with flowers and he apologized for being a jerk and pressuring me to move. He said he'd wait as long as I needed."

"That's good." Chloe tilted her head. "Why don't you sound happy about it?"

Aubrey sighed. "Because he was standing there with his flowers and his smile and saying all the right things, and all I could think about was how much I hadn't missed him, and that I don't love him and I never will."

"Wow." Chloe looked at Aubrey wide eyed. Chloe remembered Tom's state of undress and frowned. "Wait, and then you had sex with him?"

Aubrey's brow furrowed confused. "What? No, why do you think I had sex with him?"

"He was buttoning up his shirt when he opened the door."

"Oh, that." Aubrey chuckled. "The flowers got his shirt wet so he had to change. We didn't have sex."

Chloe twirled her fork on her plate. "So what are you gonna do?"

"I'm gonna break up with him. I just feel bad doing it when he drove all this way to apologize."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "It's gonna be worse if you wait."

Aubrey groaned. "I know, I'll do it when I get back. I just don't want to hurt him."

Chloe reached across the table and took Aubrey's hand. "You'll hurt him more if you let him continue to fall in love with you knowing you'll never be on the same page."

Aubrey nodded. "You're right."

* * *

Aubrey hesitated before unlocking the door. She knew she had to break up with Tom, it was the right thing, she didn't want to be with him and, for once in her life, she didn't care if her dad was disappointed in her. She couldn't stay in a loveless relationship just for him. It wasn't fair to her and it wasn't fair to Tom.

She went into the apartment and and closed the door as silently as she could. She could hear the TV in the living room and stood in the hall for a minute before making her way further into the apartment. She passed the flowers and smiled. They were unoriginal and over the top, but it was still a nice gesture.

Tom was on the couch watching CNN and eating a bowl of cereal. His shoes were next to the couch and his feet were crossed on top of the coffee table. Aubrey frowned a little. "Hey."

Tom's feet dropped down immediately and he looked back at her with a smile. "Hey, how was lunch?"

"It was good." She placed her purse on a chair and walked around the couch. She sat on the side opposite Tom, her hands on her knees. "Tom, we need to talk."

Tom's hand stopped with the spoon halfway to his mouth. "Umm, okay." He put the bowl on the coffee table and turned to face Aubrey. "What's up?"

"Tom, I've been thinking a lot about what I want and what I don't want."

"I know, babe, and I'm sorry about pressuring you to mo-" Aubrey raised her hand silencing him.

"I know you are, and you asking me to move isn't what brought this on. But it did help me realize that what I want and what you want are very different things." He opened his mouth to interrupt again but Aubrey threw him a glare and he stopped. Aubrey went into lawyer mode to make it easier. "I think that, given these irreconcilable sentiments, the best thing is that we terminate our relationship, effective immediately."

Tom sat there confused for a moment. "Did you just break up with me?" Aubrey nodded. "Because of irreconcilable sentiments."

"That's correct." Aubrey nodded.

"And what are these irreconcilable sentiments?"

Aubrey sighed and looked down at her hands. She had hoped she could do this without actually telling him this. "I'm not in love with you, Tom."

"Oh." He looked surprised. He opened his mouth and looked around. "So what, this whole year's been a lie?"

"No, Tom, I tried to fall in love with you but it's not something you can force!"

He stood up and put his shoes on. "Well, I'm sorry I made it so hard for you."

"That's not-" He walked into the bedroom to get the shirt he changed out of. "Tom!"

He walked back in holding his shirt in his hand. "I just drove over four hours to apologize and bring you flowers and you break up with me? What kind of person does that?"

She kneeled on the couch and looked at him. "I'm sorry, would you have prefered I continue this charade because you were tired from driving?"

"No, I would have prefered you were a better girlfriend and hadn't come at me with this I'm not in love with you bullshit almost a year into our relationship!" He ran his hand through his hair and then waved it at Aubrey. "You know what? It doesn't matter. I hope you have a great life, Aubrey."

He slammed the door when he left and Aubrey dropped her forehead on the back of the couch. "That could have gone better."

* * *

Beca entered Chloe's dressing room and placed a Crumbs cupcake in front of her, sitting on the chair next to her. Chloe beamed when she saw the cupcake and threw her arms around Beca. "You're the best! I love you!"

Beca smiled smugly and pecked her lips. "I know." She swiped her finger on the frosting and stuck it in her mouth. "How did your lunch with Aubrey go?" Chloe had just bit down on the cupcake so she just nodded. "Did you tell her about Stacie's date?"

Chloe slowed down her chewing and looked unsure before shaking her head. She lifted her hand to stop Beca from saying anything until she swallowed. "She had already decided to break up with Tom, I didn't think she needed to worry about Stacie dating people yet."

"She broke up with Tom? Why didn't you say that first?" Beca shook Chloe's arm while the redhead tried to keep her cupcake from falling. "I need to tell Stacie."

"Wait!" Chloe took Beca's phone. "I don't think we should tell her yet. Aubrey just broke up, she might need some time."

"But Chloe!" Beca whined.

"Let's just stick to the plan. Stacie is going on her date with Brianna next week, we'll tell her after that."

Beca sank on her chair and crossed her arms. "Fine."

Chloe gave her her phone back and kissed her cheek. "I want them to get back together too, babe, but rushing them won't do them any good."

"I know. I just want Stacie to stop moping all the time, it's annoying." Beca shrugged.

Chloe laughed. "Right, it's not because you love Stacie and you want her to be happy." Beca shrugged and Chloe narrowed her eyes. After a moment she gasped. "Do you love Aubrey too?"

Beca frowned and sank deeper in her chair. "Of course not! Posen's a pain in the ass, I don't care about her."

Chloe poked Beca's cheek. "You love Aubrey." Beca batted her hand away but Chloe continued to poke her cheek and tease her. "You love her. You want her to get back together with Stacie because you want her to be happy."

"Stop it!" Beca grabbed Chloe's finger. "Maybe I don't not care about what happens to her." Chloe squealed. "But I don't love her, the only person I love is you."

Chloe kissed her cheek. "And Stacie."

Beca rolled her eyes. "And Stacie."

Chloe kissed her other cheek. "And Aubrey."

"I don't!" Beca grabbed Chloe and pulled her onto her lap, tickling her.

* * *

Stacie got to the restaurant exactly on time, a habit left over from when she dated Aubrey. The hostess led her to a table where Brianna, Chloe's castmate, was already waiting. Stacie smiled at her. "Hi, Brianna."

The girl smiled back. "Hi, Stacie."

"So, this is kind of weird." Stacie chuckled. "I don't know what Chloe told you, I mean, after the party."

"She didn't really say much, but she asked me if I wanted to go out with you and, well, you're really hot so." She shrugged and wrinkled her nose.

Stacie thought it was cute and smirked at her. "So you're just here for my body?"

"Actually, what sold me was your smile." Stacie blushed and fiddled with her napkin. Before she had a chance to think of a comeback, the waiter came and took their orders.

Stacie ordered an expensive bottle of wine and Brianna arched an eyebrow at her. Stacie shrugged and gave the menu back to the waiter. She folded her hands in front of her. "So, Brianna, how's life as a Broadway star?"

Brianna pursed her lips. "Brianna sounds so formal, call me Bree."

Stacie's smile faltered. "Bree?"

"Yeah, that's what my friends call me." She smiled and this time Stacie didn't like it so much. Everything about her was wrong. Her auburn hair was pretty but it was too dark, her eyes were blue instead of the gorgeous emerald she loved, even her lips were too red.

Stacie forced herself to smile again. She had to try to move on, she couldn't keep comparing everyone to Aubrey. She got back into the conversation, trying to stop thinking about Aubrey, but every time she said her name, Brianna would ask her to call her Bree and her mind would immediately start listing the reasons why Brianna wasn't good enough.

Halfway through their meal, Brianna stopped mid sentence and tilted her head. It took Stacie a bit to realize she had stopped talking and she smiled apologetically. "Am I boring you?"

"No! No, it's just…" Stacie's first impulse was lying and saying she was tired but she didn't want to lie to Brianna, she liked her even if she didn't want to date her. She looked at her seriously and exhaled loudly. "I'm really sorry, but I don't think I'm ready to date. I'm kinda still in love with my ex…"

Brianna smiled at her. Chloe had warned her about this and she was insisting she call her Bree on purpose. "Hey, it's okay. I get it."

"You're really nice and pretty and if I was over her I would be totally into you."

"But you're not." Stacie shook her head and was about to apologize again but Brianna stopped her by putting her hand over Stacie's. "Don't apologize, I appreciate the honesty. And this doesn't have to be a date, we can just be two friends having dinner."

Stacie smiled at her, this time it wasn't forced. "That would be nice."

Brianna let go of her hand and sat back. "So tell me about this girl."

* * *

By the time dessert came, Stacie had told her the whole story about Aubrey, ending with Aubrey asking her to be friends which led to Stacie flirting with her at the party. Brianna half glared, half smiled at Stacie. "I feel like I should be a little bit offended that you used me to make her jealous."

"Don't be, it's a compliment."

Brianna laughed and rolled her eyes. "Okay, so what's the plan?"

"What plan?" Stacie looked at her confused.

"The plan to win her back."

Stacie looked down sadly. "There's no plan, she's moved on."

Brianna took a bite from the brownie they were sharing and pointed with her fork. "From what you've told me about this-"

She raised her eyebrows trying to remember the name. "Tom."

"-Tom, he doesn't sound like a very nice guy. And if Aubrey is as good and smart as you say, she's going to leave him."

"So what, I should break them up?"

Brianna shook her head. "No, but I don't think you should give up yet. Besides, she said she still cared about you right? That's gotta mean something."

Stacie shrugged. "I guess."

They finished dessert. Stacie paid the check despite the other girl's protests, saying it was the least she could do given how their date had ended in a non-date. They walked out together and Brianna hugged Stacie. "I'm sorry again about how this date turned out."

Brianna laughed and rolled her eyes. "I gained a friend and that's better than a date." She let go of Stacie. "If you ever go see Chloe at the play, come backstage and say hi."

Stacie nodded. "Of course."

Stacie decided to walk home. It was a nice night and she needed to think. Her brief attempt at dating had made her realize that, not only did she not want to go on blind dates, she didn't want to move on. Maybe it was stupid, maybe she was just being stubborn and she would end up alone. She just knew Aubrey was the person she'd be happiest with, everyone else would be second best, and why settle for that?

She knew breaking up Aubrey and her boyfriend wasn't a good idea, it would just seem petty and she didn't want to hurt Aubrey again. She felt a lump in her throat thinking about how much she'd hurt her the first time. She didn't regret breaking up with her, she still thought it had been the right thing for both of them at that time. She wouldn't be where she was if she hadn't done it, and Aubrey wouldn't either, she knew that. And she could have lived without the company and the Hudson waterfront penthouse, but she wouldn't have been able to live with herself if she'd been the reason Aubrey hadn't gotten into Harvard, or if she'd had to turn down an opportunity for her. So if the price for Aubrey being happy was her being alone, she was willing to pay it.

She got to her apartment and frowned when she saw a light coming from the living room. She was sure she'd turned off all the lights before she left. She took her pepper spray out of her purse, silently took her shoes off, and tiptoed to the living room. It was empty but one of the lamps and the TV were on. She heard the kitchen door swing open and she turned holding up the pepper spray, ready to attack whoever was there, when she realized it was Beca coming out with a bowl of popcorn. "Hey, how was your date?"

"Dude, what the fuck? I could've pepper sprayed you!" Stacie went to the door to pick up her shoes and her purse, putting the spray back inside.

"Sorry, I was just waiting for you." Beca rolled her eyes at Stacie's dramatics. "This building has state of the art security and you have an alarm. You need to stop being so paranoid, man."

Stacie flipped her off and walked into the kitchen to get some water. "Why are you here scaring the hell out of me anyway, isn't Chloe home?" She frowned when she didn't get a response and walked back out into the living room. "Becs?"

Beca was standing next to the couch, looking down at her feet nervously, the bowl of popcorn was forgotten on the coffee table. "I need to tell you something. I can't keep it from you anymore, it's been killing me; but Chloe said I should wait and Chloe is sometimes right, I guess; and she's Chloe so I did what she said, I kept my mouth shut and let you go on your date…"

"Becs, what is it?" Stacie frowned and sat on the couch.

Beca sat next to her gnawing on her lower lip nervously. "Aubrey broke up with Tom a week ago."


	6. Chapter 6

_Beca sat next to her gnawing on her lower lip nervously. "Aubrey broke up with Tom a week ago."_

"What?" Stacie stood up and paced away from the couch. She got to the end of the living room and turned around. "And you're just telling me?"

"Chloe said-"

"I don't give a shit about what Chloe said, you should have told me!" She walked back to the couch. "I went on a fucking date, Beca!"

"I know, I'm sorry." Beca made a move to touch Stacie but she shook her head and pulled away. "Stacie, come on, I knew nothing was gonna happen with Brianna."

"It doesn't matter!" Stacie grabbed her purse and started walking out. "I need to-"

"Stacie!" Beca stood up and followed her. "Where are you going?"

"I don't know! Somewhere where my best friend isn't keeping things from me." She opened the door and walked to the elevator.

Beca followed her, leaving the door open. She stood in the hallway in her socks. "Stacie, I'm sorry! I should have told you when I found out. Come back."

The elevator door opened and Stacie stood in front of it. She let it close again and turned around. "Okay."

Stacie slowly walked back to her apartment, dropping down on the living room couch again. Beca sat down next to her silently. Stacie's mind was reeling. She wanted to go to Aubrey now and ask her out or kiss her or something but she didn't know if that was the best thing to do. Her being single didn't necessarily mean she wanted her back, she didn't know if she had forgiven her for breaking up with her. And even if she had she didn't know if she still loved her.

She turned to look at Beca. She was sitting next to her staring at the ceiling. "So what now?"

Beca looked at her and shrugged. "I don't know."

"Do you think she still loves me?" Stacie looked so unsure and vulnerable it made Beca's heart clench.

She put her head on Stacie's shoulder. "I don't know, Stace, I think so but I don't want to get your hopes up and be wrong."

Stacie nodded, her chin hitting the top of Beca's head. "So what do I do?"

"Ask Chloe?"

Stacie chuckled. "Yeah."

"I'll call her to tell her we're going." Beca pulled her phone out of her pocket.

"Isn't she sleeping? It's late."

Beca shook her head. "The play's got her sleeping schedule all weird so she stays up late even if it's her day off."

Stacie stood up and went to her room to change while Beca talked to Chloe. She put on a pair of jeans and a long sleeved shirt and changed into more comfortable shoes. She tied her hair back and changed her contacts for her glasses before walking back out to find Beca. "Ready."

Beca had called a car to pick them up too and it was waiting by the time they got downstairs. The drive uptown to Beca's apartment wasn't long and soon they were sitting in her living room.

Chloe folded her hands on her lap. She hadn't been too happy about Beca telling Stacie after they had agreed to wait but she understood why she did it. "Okay, what we need first is find out where Bree stands with this whole getting back together thing. So I think that the first thing we should do, well I, is talk to her about it."

Stacie and Beca exchanged a doubtful look. "Okay, what happens if she doesn't want to get back together?"

"She does, or she will. I just need to know where in the process of wanting to get back together she's in so we can make the best plan." Stacie still looked unsure. "Aubrey loves you, I know it, you know it, the whole world knows it. You're inevitable, you're like Beca and me." Beca smiled goofily and Chloe winked at her. "But she just got out of a relationship and, even though she didn't love the guy, she still needs to heal before she even thinks about you."

Stacie frowned, she wanted Aubrey to think about her now. "How long is that going to take?"

"Probably not long. Like I said, she didn't love the guy and she was the one who broke up with him, so her RT should be around a month." Chloe nodded decisively.

"RT?" Stacie shook her head and looked at Beca for help.

"Rebound time." Beca shrugged for Stacie to just go with it.

"So after that what?"

"After that she can start thinking about you. We can organize group events, nothing too obvious, of course. Just a couple of things where you interact so she remembers how happy she was with you. And when she realizes she's still in love with you, you make your move." Chloe smiled like it was the easiest thing. "Maybe a little jealousy could help speed up the process but that might backfire, I'll keep that in the back burner for now."

Stacie ran her hand through her hair. "That sounds great, Chlo, but what's my move?"

Chloe rolled her eyes. "I can't give you the answer for everything, Stace."

Stacie frowned and looked at Beca. "Maybe you can start by apologizing for breaking up with her."

Chloe nodded. "Yes, you're gonna need to convince her that you're not walking away again."

Stacie shook her head. "I don't know if I can apologize for that. I'm not sorry I did it."

Chloe patted her knee. "Okay, we'll work on that. For now, just wait."

Stacie dropped her head back and groaned. "I've been waiting six years already, I don't want to wait anymore."

Chloe made Beca move from the seat next to Stacie and pulled her into a hug. "It's almost over, sweetie." She pursed her lips. "Maybe."

* * *

"How's single life treating you?" Chloe smiled at her from across the table of the downtown restaurant they were having lunch in.

Aubrey chuckled. "It's okay. Not that different than dating someone you barely think about and don't see cause he's in a different city."

Chloe incorporated this to her rebound time estimate and smiled. "So now that you're single..."

"What?" Aubrey took a bite of her salad and raised her eyebrows.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Stacie."

Aubrey looked down at her plate and pushed a cherry tomato around. "What about Stacie?"

Chloe started counting things off with her fingers. "You're single, you live in the same place again, she's still gorgeous, smart, and-"

Aubrey scoffed. "And sleeping with anything with a pulse."

Chloe's eyes narrowed for a second. "You don't know that."

Aubrey crossed her arms and arched an eyebrow. "I saw her at your party with that girl."

Chloe bit her lip. "She didn't sleep with her."

"Oh." Aubrey felt suddenly lighter. She hadn't allowed herself to think about how seeing Stacie again had made her feel, let alone how seeing her with someone else made her feel. She didn't feel like she had the right to think about her while she was in a relationship with someone else. "It doesn't matter, Chlo. We're not- I'm not- she's… can we not talk about Stacie?"

Chloe raised her hands. "Okay, I won't say anything else about Stacie."

"Thank you."

Chloe mentioning Stacie was like opening a faucet in Aubrey's brain. It was all she could think about for the rest of the day. She tried to focus on work. Everything was working out fine until she had to make copies of a huge file. As she waited for the copies to be done, her mind drifted to the last months of her relationship with Stacie. Over the years she had done this fairly often, over analyze every single moment, try to figure out if there was something she could have done differently.

_She heard the skype ringtone coming from her computer and clicked on the notification that popped up so she could pick up. After a couple of seconds, Stacie's smiling face came on her screen making her smile. "Hey, baby!"_

_She switched back to her essay and sighed. "Hey, Stace. I'm kinda busy right now, can I call you back when I'm done?"_

" _Yeah, that's okay." She changed back to skype to end the call but she missed Stacie's disappointed look._

" _I'll talk to you later, then. I love you!" Aubrey blew a kiss at her and Stacie perked up._

" _Love you too."_

_Aubrey continued with her essay. When she was done, she looked at the time; it was past 3 am. She sighed thinking that Stacie was probably sleeping already so she took out her phone to text her._

_**Hey, babe, I'm just finishing. I doubt you're up now so just call me before class tomorrow? I miss you and I love you. xo** _

_Aubrey woke up to the sound of a skype call and she ran to her desk to pick up. Stacie must have changed windows while she waited, she had her hand on her chin and she looked pretty tired. "Hey, gorgeous."_

_Stacie lifted her head and smiled. "Hey, you."_

" _I'm sorry we couldn't talk last night. That stupid History paper took forever."_

" _Hey, don't diss History. If it hadn't been for that History project, we wouldn't be together." Stacie gave her a playful glare._

_Aubrey rolled her eyes. "We would be, you had a huge crush on me even before that."_

" _You had a crush on me too!" Stacie pouted._

_Aubrey whined. "I can't believe I have to wait another two weeks to kiss you."_

" _I know, it's gonna be so hard. I miss you so much." Stacie poked her screen making Aubrey giggle. Stacie's voice got low. "I can't wait to do more than kiss though."_

_Aubrey looked at the time, Stacie's class started in less than half an hour. "Don't start something, you need to go to class soon."_

" _I can skip. I can skip the whole day. I can be there by six, have you for dinner, and then drive back."_

_Aubrey laughed. "As much as I'd love that, you can't skip class. Also, that's an insane plan."_

_Stacie frowned. "Fine, I'll go to stupid class and learn stupid things."_

_Aubrey stuck her tongue out. After a brief pause, she bit her lip and looked up at the camera. "How about you call me tonight and I'll tell you all the things I want to do when I see you in two weeks."_

_Stacie's eyes widened and she nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, that sounds good."_

" _Good." Aubrey blew her a kiss. "I love you, baby. Have a great day."_

Aubrey was startled by a hand waving in front of her. "Miss Posen?" Aubrey looked up at one of the interns. "We got more boxes for the Smith case."

"Thank you, Jim, I'll be right there." She smiled halfheartedly and sighed. She hadn't seen Stacie for another month after that call, they'd both had school things come up they couldn't get out of. It happened a lot that year, and Aubrey felt worse every time she had to cancel on Stacie. Stacie breaking up with her hadn't been unexpected, but she still didn't think it had been the right choice.

Aubrey walked back to her office. As she sat on her desk, her eyes fell on her framed Harvard Law degree. She remembered how tired she was from trying to cram in all of her schoolwork during the week so she could see Stacie on the weekend. She knew she couldn't have done that in law school, but admitting that would mean admitting that Stacie was right about breaking up and she refused to do that. She kept telling herself they would've found a way to work things out, that breaking up only made it harder. She felt abandoned, like Stacie didn't care enough about her to fight for them. She couldn't go through that again.

She dropped her head on her desk and took a few deep calming breaths before leaving for the conference room where they were working on their current case. She needed something other than Stacie to occupy her mind, at least for now.

* * *

Stacie's office door opened startling her. "What are you doing?"

Stacie looked up and quirked an eyebrow at Beca. "Working? That's usually what I do here."

"It's after midnight." Beca went around the desk and started pulling her up. "Jess called me and said you've been staying here until god knows what time every day this week. She thinks you might've even slept here on Tuesday."

Stacie resisted. "So what if I did? It's my company, I can sleep here if I want."

Beca gave up trying to get her out of the chair and started dragging it to the door. "Where are you taking me?"

"Home!" Beca pushed the chair out of the office and down the hallway.

"You're insane, take me back. I have things to do!" Stacie planted her feet on the floor but her heels slid with the chair. "Beca, stop!"

Beca stopped, not because Stacie told her to but because she was getting tired. "Dude, you can't hide in here. Besides, you're seeing Aubrey in a couple of weeks, you can't look like this."

Beca pointed at Stacie's face. She hadn't slept much since they told her Aubrey was single. She didn't trust she could control the urge to contact her so she just stayed at the office until she couldn't stay awake anymore. She was so tired that it took her brain a few more seconds to process what Beca had said. "What do you mean I'm seeing her in a couple of weeks?"

Beca grinned. "I'm DJing at a club and I'm inviting her."

She stood up and started pushing her chair back to her office. "And it's in two weeks? I thought they booked you with months in advance."

Beca shrugged. "The things I do for true love."

"Aw Becs, I love you too." She kissed Beca's cheek sloppily.

Beca pulled away wiping her face. "Gross. And I meant you an Aubrey, you twit."

Stacie laughed. She finished pushing her chair back to its place behind her desk. "Wait, does that mean Chloe talked to her? What did she say?"

Beca looked down at her shoes. "She wouldn't tell me because she doesn't want me to keep things from you." Stacie frowned. "But she's the one who suggested this so she thinks you have a shot!"

Stacie smiled. "I guess that's good enough."


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mind the rating change.

"Okay, say it again." Chloe looked pointedly at Stacie.

Stacie rolled her eyes. "No flirting or dancing with strangers, no suggestive comments, dress hot but not slutty."

"What else?" Chloe arched her eyebrows.

"Chloe, we've been over this already. I'm not stupid!" Stacie threw her arms up and leaned back on the couch.

"Do you want her back?" Stacie nodded. "Okay, then say it one more time."

Stacie growled. "No asking about Tom or anyone else she might have dated or slept with; no talking about people I've slept with; if I'm alone with her, no talking about our relationship, stick to work, family, or current events."

Chloe grinned. "I think you're ready."

Stacie rolled her eyes. "Finally."

She'd been at Chloe and Beca's apartment for over an hour going over the dos and don'ts for their night out the next day. Beca had excused herself halfway through saying she had some last minute things to prepare, but Stacie suspected she was sleeping.

"Remember, Beca goes on at midnight so be there before that."

Stacie got up and grabbed her purse with a sigh. "Yes, Chlo." She hugged her tightly. "I really do appreciate everything you're doing."

Chloe patted her back. "I know."

As soon as she got home, Stacie went to her closet to decide what she was going to wear. She pulled out a couple of outfits and laid them out on the bed.

She looked at them and tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Hot but not slutty…"

She grinned and grabbed one of the outfits, hanging it behind the door and putting the rest back in her closet. She couldn't wait to see Aubrey's face when she showed up wearing that.

* * *

Chloe finished signing the playbill from the last person at the stage door and put her sharpie in her purse. She pulled out her phone and dialed Aubrey while she started walking to the subway. Aubrey picked up after a couple of rings. "Hey, I'm just leaving the theatre, I'll be there in like half an hour to pick you up."

Aubrey bit her lip nervously. "I can't go."

"What do you mean you can't go? You have to, you've never heard Beca play."

Aubrey paced in her apartment. "I don't have nightclub clothes! I have work clothes and casual clothes but I haven't been clubbing since college."

Chloe rolled her eyes and picked up her pace. "We'll figure something out when I get there, do your hair and makeup in the meantime."

She hung up before Aubrey could make another excuse and ran to the subway station. They didn't have that much time before they had to be at the club and she hadn't contemplated an Aubrey crisis.

Aubrey went to her room and looked at herself in the mirror. She didn't know where to start, her brain had gone into panic mode. She knew she was going to see Stacie tonight, and she didn't have an excuse to ignore her feelings for her anymore.

She had barely interacted with Stacie the last time she saw her, but Tom had been the reason for that. There was no one to hide behind tonight and that made Aubrey nervous. Stacie had made it clear she didn't want to be her friend, but did she still want to be something else? And if she did, was she ready to consider getting back with her?

Aubrey went into the bathroom and started doing her makeup. She lifted her eyeliner and watched it shake in her hand. She frowned and put it down. She was considering trying picking it up again when her doorbell rang. She ran to the door and pulled Chloe inside. "I can't do this, Chlo."

Chloe walked straight into her room and opened her closet. "You can. I'll find something for you to wear and then we'll go."

"There's nothing! I looked." Aubrey flopped face down on her bed.

Chloe arched an eyebrow at her. "Is this really about your outfit, or is it about seeing Stacie?"

"I don't know who this Stacie person you speak of is."

Chloe pulled out a black skirt and a suit jacket and moved to her underwear drawer. "Oh, maybe I should introduce you guys, then. You might hit it off, fall in love, and stop being a huge idiot."

Aubrey sat up and frowned. "I'm not a huge idiot."

Chloe pulled out a black bra and matching underwear and walked back to the bed, holding it out for Aubrey to take. "You are. Now put these on."

Aubrey grabbed the offered garments and walked into the bathroom. She left the door ajar so she could keep talking to Chloe. "I don't think not wanting to get hurt makes me a huge idiot."

Chloe went back to the closet and looked for a matching pair of shoes. "Do you love her?"

"What?" Aubrey came out of the bathroom in her underwear and put on the skirt.

"Do you still love her?"

Aubrey bit her lip and looked around for the rest of her outfit. "I… Where's the rest of what I'm wearing?"

"That jacket." Chloe grabbed it and put it on her, pulling it closed on the bottom but not buttoning it. The jacket was long and the skirt was short so they both stopped at midthigh.

Aubrey looked down. "You can see my bra."

"Yes, you look hot." She gave Aubrey the shoes. "I'm going to take your avoidance as a yes."

Aubrey sighed. "It's more complicated than that, Chlo."

"Yup, huge idiots." She looked at Aubrey's outfit and smiled. "Go finish your makeup so we can go."

* * *

By the time Aubrey and Chloe got to the club, it was already packed. Beca didn't play that much anymore, she was mostly focused on producing, so when she did, people showed up. The bouncer let them in immediately and one of the club reps ushered them to the VIP area where their table, and Stacie, were waiting. "You're just in time, she's going on in a couple of minutes. What took you so long?"

"It was my fault, sorry." Stacie looked over Chloe's shoulder when she heard Aubrey's voice and froze. She could feel her entire body reacting to her and she closed her fists tight to avoid reaching out. She looked incredibly hot.

Chloe hugged her. "You're drooling." Stacie closed her mouth and gave her a sheepish smile.

Stacie was disappointed to see that Aubrey had already taken a seat on the other side of the table and was talking to one of the waiters. Stacie sat back and contemplated getting another drink but she didn't think it was a good idea. She needed to stay in control, she didn't want to risk doing or saying something she might regret.

Aubrey was having her own issues with Stacie. She looked stunning. She was wearing a tighter than tight red skirt that reached the top of her thighs, and a matching halter top with a deep cleavage. The top was loose under her breasts and flared out over the skirt. Her perfectly straightened hair flowed over her shoulders. One strand ended on her collarbone, and all Aubrey could think about was tracing the path it was pointing to down Stacie's cleavage.

Suddenly, all the lights in the club turned off. Aubrey jumped and grabbed Chloe's hand. Chloe gave it a reassuring squeeze. The darkness only lasted a couple of seconds, and different colored laser lights started shooting out from different directions in time with the first song in Beca's set. Chloe and Stacie had seen this a bunch of times, but it was Aubrey's first time so she looked up with childlike excitement. When Beca changed to her next song, the lights went back to normal.

Aubrey smiled widely. "That was cool."

Chloe pointed at Stacie with her head. "Stacie helped with the lasers."

Aubrey turned to Stacie. "You did?"

Stacie shrugged. "Beca wanted a cool intro, I just helped her program the timing with the song."

Aubrey grabbed her drink and moved to Stacie's side of the table so she could hear her better over the music. She tried to ignore the butterflies in her stomach when she sat down and her arm accidentally brushed Stacie's. "How does it work?"

Stacie started explaining it to Aubrey. She missed this. She didn't have to dumb things down for her, and Aubrey didn't hesitate to ask her to explain something when she didn't understand.

Stacie leaned down to point out the different places where Beca had placed the lasers and the mirrors and Aubrey's breath hitched in her throat. She didn't think Stacie had noticed, but their shoulders were touching. Aubrey could feel her heart hammering inside her chest and she was afraid Stacie would hear it.

When Stacie finished showing her where everything was placed, she moved back to her previous spot and gave her a small smile. "Yeah, so it's pretty simple really."

Chloe frowned. "I need another drink to get the boring science talk out of my head, I'll be right back."

Aubrey rolled her eyes and smiled at Stacie, leaning her elbows on the table and taking a drink from her straw. "I think it's really cool."

Beca changed to a different song and Stacie grinned. "I love this song." She bit her lip and looked at Aubrey.

Aubrey could tell Stacie was debating telling her something. "What?"

"Do you want to dance?"

Aubrey knew it was probably not a good idea but she had always found it very difficult to say no to Stacie. "Sure."

Stacie smiled and got up, holding her hand out for Aubrey to take and leading her to the dancefloor. She stopped when they got there and started dancing without letting go of Aubrey's hand. There was a lot of space between them, they only part of their bodies touching was their hands, but it still made Aubrey feel dizzy.

Stacie was struggling to keep her distance from Aubrey. She hadn't really planned on asking her to dance until that song came on. She was usually very handsy when she danced, but she didn't want to do anything Aubrey wasn't okay with.

Aubrey turned around and moved their clasped hands to her front, placing Stacie's hand on her stomach, inside her jacket. Stacie sucked in a breath and moved closer. Her other hand moved up to Aubrey's waist. She moved the hand on her stomach to the side, her fingers dancing over Aubrey's abs as the blonde pressed her body closer to Stacie's.

After a while, Aubrey turned around, her hands moving up to Stacie's shoulders. She kept some distance between their bodies but she ran her thumb over Stacie's collarbone. Stacie's thumb started moving in circles over her ribs, making her skin tingle. She loved the feeling of Stacie beneath her fingers, the feeling of her hand against her skin. She looked down at her mouth. She wanted to feel her lips against her own, on her neck, her chest, everywhere.

She licked her lips. It would have been really easy to move closer and take Stacie's lower lip between her lips. Her thumb moved unconsciously from Stacie's collarbone, up to her throat and her jaw. Stacie's lips parted slightly in anticipation and the hand on her waist tightened almost imperceptibly. Aubrey knew Stacie wanted this, she had seen that look in her eyes before. That look that made her melt and want to forget everything.

But she couldn't forget everything. Aubrey moved her hand back to her shoulder and took a step back. Stacie's brow furrowed for a fraction of a second, almost too quick to notice. She moved her hand out from under Aubrey's jacket and took a step back, catching Aubrey's hand when it fell from her shoulder and kept dancing. Aubrey smiled at her, thankful that she had understood she wasn't ready for this yet, that Stacie hadn't pushed, but she could still feel her skin tingling from where Stacie's hand had been.

They went back to the table when Beca finished her set. When Chloe saw them approaching, she raised her eyebrows at Aubrey who just shook her head. Aubrey stayed on Stacie's side of the table for the rest of the night since Beca had taken the seat next to Chloe.

It felt just like when they were together, hanging out with Chloe and Beca. Stacie looked at Aubrey and smiled sadly. It was almost like old times, except Aubrey wasn't hers anymore. She couldn't reach out and kiss her or touch her, they wouldn't be going home together.

Stacie didn't mind waiting, she didn't mind being this close, feeling the warmth radiating from her body and not being able to actually touch her. She would take anything if she knew she still had a chance, if she only had a sign that all of this waiting would end at some point. She almost thought she had her sign when they had danced before but then Aubrey pulled back. Stacie saw the moment her walls had moved back up, blocking her off, keeping her away.

Aubrey watched Stacie from the corner of her eye. She still knew her well enough to notice the tension in her body. Her hands were clutching her seat and her shoulders were set tightly. Whenever she smiled, it didn't quite reach her eyes. Aubrey wanted to touch her, tell her everything was going to be okay, but she didn't know if it was true. She needed more time, and even though she knew it wasn't fair to expect Stacie to wait, she knew she would.

Around 4 am, they left the club. Chloe and Beca were sharing a cab with Aubrey back uptown. Stacie had a shorter drive downtown so she was taking her own car. Stacie said goodbye to Beca and Chloe, who went ahead to try to find a cab. Aubrey smiled at Stacie. "I had a great time."

Stacie smiled back. "I had a great time too."

Aubrey put her hand on Stacie's forearm and gave it a little squeeze before leaning forward and placing a lingering kiss on her cheek. She heard Chloe yell her name and pulled back. "See you."

* * *

By the time Aubrey got home, she'd been up for almost 24 hours. She was too tired to look for something to wear to bed so she just stripped to her underwear and pulled on a random t-shirt. Despite her exhaustion, she couldn't sleep. She kept replaying the whole night in her head. She knew she missed Stacie, but she hadn't realized just how much until tonight. Just being able to be with her, to talk to her, had been like she'd gotten back a little piece of her that was missing. She wasn't ready to let her back in yet, to give her heart to her again, to think about love.

Stacie had behaved perfectly tonight, she hadn't pulled back but she hadn't pushed either, letting her take the lead. She'd acted like she would with anyone else while still making her feel like she wasn't just anyone else. She had almost kissed her when she said goodbye just for that. And for the way she looked. No one made Aubrey have such a strong and immediate reaction to them as Stacie. It wasn't just the outfit, her whole body reacted whenever Stacie was anywhere near. She could still feel her skin tingling where they had touched.

She thought back to when they danced. She placed her hand under her shirt, right where Stacie's hand had been. She had stopped herself before anything happened but she couldn't help but wonder what might have happened if she had kissed her. She moved her hand over her ribs softly. She let her hand continue its path up her body and brush over her nipple. She bit back a moan. She remembered the darkness in Stacie's eyes and she pinched her nipple between her thumb and index finger, her thighs pressing together. She'd seen that darkness in Stacie's eyes before, and it had always ended with Aubrey pinned under Stacie.

Her hand moved down her body, over her abs, her belly button, her lower stomach and stopped at the edge of her underwear. She traced the waistband to her hip and back to the middle. She thought about Stacie's hands, her lips, her tongue. Her fingers slipped under her underwear and reached her center. She bit her lip. She was sufficiently worked up for her fingers to slide easily around her opening and back up. She kept a steady pace, her other hand moving up to massage her breast.

She thought about kissing Stacie's neck, running her fingers up the smooth skin of her thigh. Her breath became labored, coming out in short pants. She threw her head back and moved her fingers faster. She could almost feel Stacie smirking against her neck. She let out a low moan as her hips lifted slightly off the mattress and her fingers pressed harder. She pinched her nipple and pressed her legs tight together, arching her back.


	8. Chapter 8

Beca took the plates out into the dining room. "Chlo, this is ridiculous. They're gonna know this is a set up when they get here and they're the only people that show up."

Chloe came out of the kitchen holding a salad bowl and a lemonade pitcher. "I didn't tell them there'll be other people."

"Did you tell them they would be here?" Chloe shrugged and continued setting the table. "Chloe…"

"They didn't ask!" Chloe waved her hands in the air.

"What exactly did you tell them?"

Chloe went back into the kitchen and Beca followed her. "I just invited them over for dinner."

"And you didn't think they would've liked to know the other was going to be here too?"

Chloe peered into the oven to check on the lasagna. "I didn't want them to say no. You saw them at the club! They were talking, having fun, they even danced!" She frowned at Beca. "You're the one who said we had to do something! I wanted to stay out of it!"

Beca rolled her eyes. "I just thought we could be more subtle about it." Chloe pouted and Beca moved close and wrapped her arms around her waist. "But you're right, they looked happy."

Chloe grinned and kissed Beca. The doorbell rang and Chloe pulled away. "Go open the door."

Beca walked to the door and opened it for Aubrey who smiled at her. "Beca, hi!"

"Hey, Bree." She grabbed the bottle of wine Aubrey handed her and led her to the dining room.

When Aubrey noticed the four places on the table she turned to Beca. "Is someone else coming?"

Beca placed the bottle on the table. "Umm."

Chloe came out of the kitchen right then and went over to hug Aubrey. "Bree, you're here!"

Aubrey hugged her back and looked at her suspiciously when she let go. "I am, who are we waiting for?" From Beca's awkward attitude when she asked, she had a pretty good idea of who it was.

Chloe smiled. "Oh, I thought I told you. Stacie's coming too."

Aubrey rolled her eyes but her heart sped at the prospect of seeing Stacie again so soon. "You must have forgotten."

The doorbell rang again and Aubrey's stomach flipped. Chloe squeezed her shoulder and winked. "That must be her, I'll get the door."

Stacie walked into the dining room chatting happily with Chloe and taking off her jacket. When she turned and saw Aubrey she froze. Her smile widened a bit. "Aubrey."

Aubrey smiled back at her. "Hey, Stace."

They stood there looking at each other until Beca cleared her throat. "So do you guys want wine?"

Stacie looked at Beca and then back at Aubrey. "Yeah, sure."

Beca went into the kitchen to look for a corkscrew while the other three girls sat down at the table. Aubrey and Stacie sat on the same side. Chloe started serving the salad when Beca came back. She was having some trouble pulling the cork out and Stacie took the bottle from her. "You're gonna break the cork, stop."

Stacie slid the cork out easily and grabbed Aubrey's glass. She poured a third of her glass and put it in front of her, moving to fill the other girl's glasses. Aubrey picked up her glass and smiled, Stacie had remembered that red wine gave her a headache if she drank too much.

Chloe asked her about a case she'd just closed and she turned to her to tell her about it. Stacie listened to her with a big smile on her face. She could tell Aubrey loved her job and she was really happy for her. She didn't know how long she'd been staring, when he felt Beca's foot connect with her shin. She frowned and looked at Beca who just raised her eyebrows at her. Stacie looked down at her plate and focused on her salad.

When they were done with the salad, Chloe excused herself to get the lasagna out of the oven. Beca said she'd help her and got up, leaving Aubrey and Stacie alone in the dining room. "How do you think it's going?"

"Well, Aubrey looked happy and Stacie was about to puke hearts on her so I guess it's going well." Beca smirked.

Back in the dining room, Stacie opened and closed her mouth a couple of times trying to find the right thing to say. Aubrey noticed and put her hand over Stacie's wrist. "How's your work going?"

Stacie smiled, trying not to let it show how much Aubrey's touch was affecting her. "It's good. We're preparing for a big product launch next month."

Aubrey raised her eyebrows. "Oh, really?" Stacie nodded. "What is it?"

"It's top secret, we don't want the news leaking before we're ready." Stacie smirked.

Aubrey started moving her thumb over the back of Stacie's hand. "You know I can keep a secret."

Stacie swallowed and looked at Aubrey's thumb on her hand. "It's a-"

Chloe and Beca came back with the rest of the food. Aubrey squeezed Stacie's wrist and pulled her hand away. Stacie looked up startled when Beca put the plate in front of her. Aubrey was already talking to Chloe about the play and Stacie looked at her confused. Aubrey turned to her briefly and smiled at her before turning back to Chloe.

Stacie started eating, occasionally turning to look at Aubrey. She wanted to think that Aubrey touching her was a step in the right direction but she didn't want to read too much into it.

"You should come too, Stace." Chloe was looking at her and smiling.

Stacie looked up from her plate, she hadn't been listening to anything that the other girls were saying. "I'm sorry, what?"

"You should come to the play again, with Aubrey and Beca." Beca looked at Chloe confused since she hadn't said she'd go, and she was sure Aubrey hadn't mentioned her when she said she wanted to go.

"Oh, sure. I'd love that." Stacie nodded.

"Aws! I'll see if I can get you tickets for this weekend."

After they finished the lasagna, Chloe brought out brownies and ice cream. Aubrey tried to refuse but Chloe said she'd baked them especially for her so she couldn't say no. Stacie and Beca had matching smiles and got a double scoop of ice cream.

After a while Aubrey pushed her plate away. "That was delicious, Chloe, but I think I'm gonna burst."

"Great, more for me." Stacie smiled at her and leaned closer to eat what was left of her brownie. Aubrey couldn't help tugging lightly at the ends of her hair and running her hand down her back. Stacie stiffened but didn't move. When Aubrey's hand reached the bottom of Stacie's back, she removed it and turned back to Chloe and Beca.

She waited for Stacie to finish eating her brownie. The brunette smiled at her and sat back on her chair. Aubrey smiled back, oblivious to the looks crossing between Chloe and Beca. Stacie had some chocolate smeared on the corner of her mouth. She licked her lips thinking about pulling her closer and cleaning that tiny bit of chocolate with her tongue. Instead she put her hands on her knees and turned to Chloe. "I should get going, I have an early meeting tomorrow."

Chloe frowned. "Oh, okay. I'll text you about the play. You're free this weekend, right?" Aubrey nodded.

"I'll walk down with you, I should get going too." Stacie stood up and grabbed her things.

They said goodbye to Beca and Chloe and walked to the elevator in silence. Once they were inside, Aubrey turned to look at Stacie. "So, are you going to tell me about your top secret product?"

Stacie smirked. "I will if you let me buy you a drink, or a cup of coffee, or a bunch of flowers?"

Aubrey chuckled and walked out of the elevator. She went to the edge of the sidewalk and looked down the street trying to find a cab. Stacie looked at her expectantly. She hailed down a passing cab and it stopped right in front of them. She turned to Stacie and took out a tissue from her purse. She wiped the corner of Stacie's mouth and kissed her cheek. "Coffee. Call me."

* * *

Stacie rested her head on her folded arms on her desk and stared at her phone. Aubrey had told her to call her, but she was nervous. She could've changed her mind since last night, or maybe it was too soon to call; they hadn't really set a date for their coffee date, if it even was a date. Stacie had made it clear she didn't want to be Aubrey's friend so she hoped Aubrey understood this wasn't a friendly coffee date. She had to make it clear to Aubrey that it wasn't a friendly date when she called her.

Her phone vibrated and the screen lit up. She picked up her phone and unlocked it to read the text she'd just gotten from Beca.

**Stop thinking about it, just call her.**

She glared at her phone. She'd had to tell Beca about the date when she'd called her to ask for Aubrey's number. Beca had assured her that Aubrey knew it wasn't friendly and that she should call her as soon as possible. She went to her contacts and her finger hovered over Aubrey's name.

* * *

Aubrey checked her phone was still on for the millionth time that day. She left it in front of her to make sure she wouldn't miss it if it rang. She kept working but her eyes strayed to her phone every couple of minutes. She could easily ask Chloe for Stacie's number and call her herself but she had told her to call. Maybe she'd forgotten, or she was busy with work, or she wasn't going to call her. Aubrey shook her head. Stacie wouldn't have asked her out if she didn't plan on calling her, she just had to wait.

Aubrey sighed and tried to focus on her work when her phone started ringing. She grabbed it and her finger stopped before she answered. She took a deep breath, she didn't want to seem overeager. She pressed the answer button. "Aubrey Posen."

"Hey, Aubrey. It's Stacie."

Aubrey's stomach flipped when she heard Stacie's voice. "Hi, Stace."

"Hey." Stacie frowned when she realized she'd already said that. "I was wondering if you still wanted to go get that coffee."

Aubrey smiled when she heard the nervousness on Stacie's voice, she was glad she wasn't the only one. "Yes, but can we make it a lunch date instead? I can't do coffee until the weekend and I was hoping I could see you before that."

Stacie bounced on her chair smiling widely. Aubrey wanted to see her and she had called it a date. "Lunch is perfect."

"Great." Aubrey let out a breath.

Stacie bit her lip. "So this is a date, then?"

"Yes." Aubrey frowned, she was pretty sure they'd both been on the same page. "Unless you don't want it to be a date."

"No, yes, definitely a date." Stacie nodded even though Aubrey couldn't see her. "Tomorrow?"

Aubrey's stomach filled with butterflies. "Tomorrow. Can you meet me by my office? It's across the street from the Supreme Court."

"Of course. I'll meet you there at noon." Stacie couldn't remember the last time she'd smiled so much. "Can't wait."

The butterflies in Aubrey's stomach did a double flip. "Me neither. See you tomorrow."

* * *

Stacie waved at Aubrey as she made her way down the steps of her building. Aubrey kissed her cheek when she got to her and Stacie blushed lightly. "Where do you wanna eat?"

Stacie lifted a tote bag she was carrying. "I picked up something for us already, I was thinking we could eat at the park. But we can go somewhere else if you prefer."

Aubrey shook her head. "The park's good."

They walked down the street towards one of the nearby parks. When they were about to cross the street, Aubrey took Stacie's hand and laced their fingers. Stacie's heart skipped happily, she missed having Aubrey's hand in hers.

They found an empty bench in a less crowded area of the park and sat down. Stacie opened up her tote bag and looked at Aubrey nervously before handing her a wrapped sandwich.

Aubrey gasped. "You didn't." She unwrapped the sandwich and took a bite, moaning appreciatively. "Oh my god, you did. These are my favorite ever, I can't believe you went all the way uptown to get these."

Stacie shrugged. "It was nothing."

She unwrapped her own sandwich and took a bite before taking out a couple of juice boxes. Aubrey smiled at her."You know what this reminds me of?" Stacie shook her head, even though she knew what she was talking about. "Our first date. You got us these sandwiches and juice boxes and we sat on a bench at the botanic garden to eat it. Although that time you also had cookies."

Stacie smirked. "I may have cookies, but I don't know if you've earned them yet."

Aubrey pouted. "I want a cookie."

Stacie looked at Aubrey's lower lip and leaned forward slightly. She stopped herself and looked back at Aubrey's eyes. "Finish your sandwich first."

Aubrey stopped breathing when she saw Stacie lean forward. She was disappointed when the brunette stopped at the last minute, she wanted Stacie to kiss her. She thought about closing the remaining distance herself but Stacie had already moved away and was sitting back.

She went back to eating her sandwich. She needed to focus on something other than kissing Stacie. "How's your day going?"

"This morning was pretty boring but I left early to go pick these up before meeting you so it's been getting better." She nudged Aubrey's shoulder. "Yours?"

"Same. Caught up on some paperwork, thought about lunch." She blushed and looked down at her lap smiling.

Stacie's stomach flipped. "Bree," Aubrey looked up at Stacie's serious tone. "Are we-"

Aubrey shook her head interrupting her. "Can we not talk about this, us, today? We both have to go back to work, I don't want to rush this conversation." She cupped Stacie's cheek. "Can we just have a good time?"

Stacie couldn't think properly with Aubrey's hand on her cheek so she just nodded. Aubrey looked into Stacie's eyes and considered leaning forward and kissing her. She looked down at Stacie's lips and felt her heart speed up. She wanted to kiss her more than anything but she knew that if she started she wouldn't be able to stop and they needed to talk first. It would make it harder for her to walk away if she and Stacie wanted different things. She smiled at her and ran her fingers down her neck before bringing her hand down to her lap.

"So what's the secret product you've been preparing for?"

* * *

Stacie walked her back to her office building. Aubrey had laced their fingers again when they had thrown out their trash and started walking out of the park. Even though their relationship status was still pretty much up in the air, Stacie felt this date had been a huge success. She'd made Aubrey laugh a bunch of times, and she'd noticed her looking at her mouth more than a few times. She hoped she didn't have much longer to wait.

They stopped in front of Aubrey's building. "Thanks for lunch, I had a great time."

Stacie smiled and ran her thumb over the back of Aubrey's hand. "Maybe we can do this again?"

Aubrey nodded. "I'd love that." She brought her free hand to Stacie's shoulder. "You're coming to Chloe's play this weekend though, right?"

Stacie nodded. "We can do something after if you want."

"It's a date." Aubrey kissed Stacie's cheek and walked away, turning around after a few steps and waving over her shoulder.


	9. Chapter 9

Stacie was standing outside the theatre waiting for Aubrey while Beca picked up their tickets at the box office. She saw Aubrey walking down the street and she waved, a smile splitting her face. Aubrey skipped forward and hugged her. "Hey."

Stacie chuckled and hugged her back, reveling in the feeling of having Aubrey in her arms again. "Hi."

Aubrey hadn't planned on hugging Stacie, but when she saw her, something other than her brain had taken over. She took a moment to enjoy how right this felt before pulling back a little to look at her.

Stacie looked down at Aubrey and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear; her hand lingered on her neck. "I missed you."

Aubrey smirked. "You saw me three days ago."

"Exactly." The way Stacie said it, and the intensity with which she was looking at her, took Aubrey's breath away.

Aubrey looked at Stacie's lips and was about to break her own 'no kissing before they had talked' rule when Beca came out holding her tickets. "I got the tickets!" Stacie moved back a little to reveal Aubrey, still pressed tight against her body. Beca ran her hand though the back of her neck awkwardly. "Oh, sorry, I didn't see…"

Aubrey stepped back and grabbed one of the tickets. "Hey, Beca. Thanks."

Aubrey walked towards the theatre. Beca walked over to Stacie who was still looking at Aubrey with a goofy smile on her face. "I'm sorry, Stace, I didn't see her."

Stacie looked at Beca and her smile widened. "It's okay."

Aubrey turned when she reached the door and arched an eyebrow at them. "Are you coming?"

Stacie took her ticket from Beca and hurried to catch up to Aubrey. When they were inside the lobby, Stacie took Aubrey's hand and immediately laced their fingers. Aubrey pulled her over to the bar. "Do you want to share a box of junior mints?"

"Sure, ba-Bree." Stacie quickly turned to the person behind the bar and moved forward to hide her blush.

Aubrey's heart felt like it was going to jump out of her chest. She knew they were already deep in couples territory without having talked about their couple status. The only things keeping her from running away was how good this felt and the fact that Stacie hadn't given any indication she didn't want this too. As much as Stacie had hurt her when she broke up with her, she knew the brunette wouldn't lead her on like this if she didn't want something serious again.

Beca had been standing behind them smiling. She took a picture of their hands and sent it to Chloe. They still had about twenty minutes for the show to start and Chloe wasn't on for the first ten minutes. She replied with a bunch of shocked and smiley faced emojis. Beca chuckled. "What are you laughing at, hobbit?"

Beca frowned at Aubrey. "Hey, I thought we were friends now."

Aubrey pursed her lips. "You're right. I'm sorry, Beca."

Beca nodded and smiled at her. "Where's Stace?"

"She went to the bathroom."

They went to their seats. Aubrey had checked Stacie's ticket so she let Beca go in first so she'd be next to her. Beca quirked an eyebrow at her. "So are you and Stacie back together?"

Aubrey turned around to make sure Stacie wasn't coming back yet before she answered. "I'm not sure."

"Do you want to?"

Aubrey bit her lip. "We're friends now, right? You won't tell Stacie what I tell you?"

"Of course not." Beca remembered the last time she hid something from Stacie. "Unless it's something that might hurt her."

Aubrey nodded. "That's fair." She looked up the aisle again. "I want to get back together, we just haven't talked about it and I can't be back with her completely unless… I don't know."

"Unless you're sure she won't leave you again?"

Aubrey looked down at her lap. "Yeah, I don't think I can go through that again."

Beca lifted her hand and hesitated, she frowned slightly and put her hand over Aubrey's. "She waited for you all this time, if that's not commitment I don't know what is. She loves you, Bree."

Aubrey sighed. "I know. I love her too. I guess we just have to talk about it." Beca squeezed her hand and took her hand back. Aubrey looked up at her and smiled. "This whole being your friend thing isn't that bad."

Beca glared at her. "Shut up, Posen." Aubrey laughed.

"What happened?" Stacie took her seat next to Aubrey.

The blonde leaned back onto Stacie's side who wrapped an arm around her. "Beca likes being my friend."

"What? That's not even remotely close to anything I said." Beca crossed her arms.

The lights dimmed and Aubrey shrugged, moving out of Stacie's embrace and turning to look at the stage. Stacie straightened herself too. When they were both settled, Stacie took Aubrey's hand. Aubrey looked at her and kissed her cheek. She had been the one who wanted to come see the play again, but now she couldn't wait for it to be over so she could talk to Stacie and finally fix this.

When the play was over, they all went to Chloe's dressing room. Between Chloe's costume rack, and the other girl that shared the dressing room with Chloe, they barely fit inside, so Stacie leaned on the opened door.

"Stacie?" Stacie turned and saw Brianna walking down the hall towards her, already out of her costume.

Stacie smiled and hugged the other girl. Aubrey looked at them and frowned. "Walk out with me, I was just gonna go get something to eat between shows."

Stacie looked between Aubrey and Brianna but figured just walking her out wouldn't be a huge deal. "I'll be back in a bit."

The second the sound of Stacie's footsteps was gone, Aubrey turned to Chloe. "I thought you said nothing happened between them."

Chloe looked at Aubrey's reflection in her mirror. "Nothing happened."

Beca took a step closer. "Yeah, it was just that one date."

Aubrey whirled towards Beca. "What date?"

Chloe groaned. Beca took a step back, not comfortable with the way Aubrey was looking at her. "They had dinner like a month ago."

Aubrey turned back to Chloe. "And you didn't think I should know this because…"

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Nothing happened. Besides, it's not like you were celibate for the past six years. You just broke up with Tom."

"Yeah, but you don't see me doing things with him in front of Stacie when we're working on getting back together." Aubrey crossed her arms. "I need to go."

"Aubrey, wait." Chloe caught up with Aubrey outside her dressing room. "Don't do something stupid just because you're jealous. Stacie wants you."

Aubrey looked down. "I just need to think."

"Okay." Chloe squeezed her arm. "She's gonna freak out when she comes back and you're not here."

"I know, just tell her I'll talk to her later."

Aubrey walked out if the theatre. Stacie and Brianna were talking at the end of the stage door line so she squeezed through the other side. She knew that girl didn't mean anything to Stacie, and she couldn't really be mad about something that happened before. And if their relationship wasn't defined yet, it was her own fault. Stacie had tried to talk about it and she hadn't been ready. She was the one who wasn't willing to commit, Stacie had done everything right.

Aubrey looked up. She hadn't really thought about what direction she was walking in and took a moment to reorient herself. She sighed and decided to go back to her apartment.

* * *

Stacie came back to Chloe's dressing room with a smile, but it fell when she noticed Aubrey was missing. "Where did Aubrey go."

Chloe got up and brought Stacie over to her chair. "She left but she said she'd talk to you later."

She looked at Beca who was suspiciously quiet and looking down at her feet. "Beca, what happened?"

Beca sighed. "I may have accidentally told her you'd gone on a date with Brianna and she kinda freaked and left."

Stacie groaned and hid her face in her hands. Chloe put her hand on her shoulder. "It's gonna be okay, Stace."

"Yeah, she totally wants you back." Beca nodded from behind them.

Stacie dropped her hands and looked at her two friends. "I need to go find her."

Stacie got up and walked out. She had no idea where Aubrey could be. She took out her phone and called her but it went straight to voicemail. She stopped a cab and called Chloe to get Aubrey's address. It seemed like the universe was trying to drive her crazy because they had to stop at every single light.

By the time they got to Aubrey's building, she was bouncing in her seat. The building didn't have a doorman so she pressed the button next to Aubrey's apartment number. She heard an annoying buzz and waited but nothing happened. She pressed it a few more times. Aubrey had no way of knowing it was her so there was no reason for her to think she was home but was ignoring her.

She took out her phone again and called Aubrey's cell but it was still off. She groaned and buzzed Aubrey's apartment one last time, even though she knew it was futile. She started walking to the subway to go back home. She was looking down so she didn't notice Aubrey crossing the street to her building. She had decided to walk to give herself more time to think so it had taken her longer to get home, and she hadn't remembered to turn her phone back on after the play ended.

Stacie was getting out of the subway when she got a text from Aubrey.

**We need to talk. Can I come over to your place?**

Stacie let out a relieved sigh and texted her back with her address and telling her she'd be waiting.

Stacie paced in front of her door from the moment she got back until she heard Aubrey's knock. Aubrey's hand was still raised when she opened it and she took a startled step back. "Hey.. I… You left."

Aubrey gave her a small smile. "I needed to think so I took a long walk." Stacie stepped back and let her in. "Wow this place is awesome."

"Yeah, it's great." Stacie led her to the living room and Aubrey moved to the large windows overlooking the Hudson.

Stacie stepped behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. Aubrey turned to look at her and smiled. "This view is amazing."

Stacie stepped closer and wrapped her arms around her. Aubrey closed her eyes and leaned back into Stacie. "Bree, what are we doing?"

Aubrey ran a hand over Stacie's forearm. "We're enjoying the view."

"You know what I mean." Stacie nudged her hair back with her nose and kissed the spot behind her ear. "Why are you holding back?"

Aubrey turned in Stacie's arms and placed her hands on her shoulders. "Getting over you was one of the hardest things I've had to do. I can't go through that again."

"Do you really think you got over me?" Aubrey shook her head. Stacie pursed her lips in thought for a second before smiling and looking intensely into Aubrey's eyes. "You can never love and part... you can transmute love, ignore it, muddle it, but you can never pull it out of you."

Aubrey smiled and arched an eyebrow. "Are you seriously gonna quote my favorite book at me?"

Stacie smirked. "Did it work?"

"Maybe." Aubrey ran her fingers up Stacie's neck. "It's not that I don't love you, I do, a lot."

"You just don't want to get hurt again, I know." Stacie moved her hands up and down Aubrey's back. "I'm not going anywhere this time."

Aubrey's brow furrowed. "How do you know?"

"Because," Stacie shrugged. "I have my company and I love it but it's not what I want to do for the rest of my life. I'm going to sell it eventually and I'll have enough money to do whatever I want, including following you around so you can do whatever you want to do. If you want to move to Kansas to be a federal judge or something, I'm in. I can do research wherever."

Aubrey smiled up at Stacie and cupped her cheek. "You would move to Kansas for me?"

"I would go anywhere for you."

Aubrey moved closer and kissed Stacie briefly. Stacie's lips followed hers in slow, repeated kisses, until Aubrey opened her mouth slightly and took Stacie's bottom lip into it, sucking lightly. Stacie moaned and pulled her back towards the couch. She sat down and Aubrey got on her lap, straddling her without breaking the kiss. Aubrey pulled back after a while and rested her forehead on Stacie's.

"I went to my apartment to pick something up." Aubrey reached into her pocket and pulled out the necklace Stacie gave her. "I thought that you could give it to me again, if you want to get back together. Kind of like a vow renewal."

Stacie took the necklace. "Wouldn't we have to be married to renew your vows?"

"These are a different kind of vows." Aubrey bit her lip nervously. "You don't have to do it if you don't want to."

Stacie smiled and grabbed the two ends of Aubrey's necklace, putting it around her neck. "I gave you this necklace so you'd remember that I would always love you no matter what. I hope it served its purpose, because I do, and all this time, I have loved you so much." She fastened it and traced it with one finger until she got to the lemniscat. "I love you, Bree, and I can't wait to make proper vows to you someday."

Aubrey laughed. "Are you asking me to marry you?"

Stacie shook her head. "No, this isn't a proposal. I just know I want to be married to you one day."

Aubrey smiled and kissed her. "Good, because I expect a proper proposal."

Stacie smirked. "How do you know I'm gonna be the one who proposes?"

Aubrey scrunched up her nose and shrugged. "I don't know."

Stacie smiled and pulled her down for a kiss. Her hands moved over Aubrey's shoulders and down her arms, linking their fingers. Aubrey smiled into the kiss. "I love you." The words came out against Stacie's lips, making the brunette smile widely and break the kiss.

Aubrey looked into Stacie's eyes and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "Love is the longing for the half of ourselves we have lost." Aubrey's eyes glinted with amusement. "I can quote your favorite book too."

Stacie chuckled and let go of Aubrey's hands. She grabbed her thighs and flipped them over, laying Aubrey on the couch and getting on top of her. She looked at Aubrey, felt every place in her body that was touching hers. Her hand moved up to trace the necklace again. "I'm glad I found my missing half."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the end. There's gonna be another chapter but it's not really part of the story, it's just a random thing I thought about. Thanks for reading this, I hope you liked it. If not, I don't know what you're doing on chapter 9, please don't torture yourself. This is kinda your last chance to comment so you should do that, don't be shy. Also, I'm always taking prompts here or on our tumblr (ss-staubrey), I promise I'll think about them at least and if I think I can come up with something good I'll write it. And if you want to read more awesome stuff, go read ACamp-toner's fics! She's the best. Or you can write your own fic! I need stuff to read too. Anyway, bye.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some people *cough* ACamp-toner *cough* complained about the lack of smut in the last chapter so here's this smutty epilogue. I hope you liked the story and this mostly unrelated bit of smut.

A knock on the door made Stacie look away from her computer for the first time in four hours. She frowned. "Jessica, I told you to go home."

The knock sounded again and Stacie sat back, removing her hands from her keyboard and crossing her arms. "This better be good, I'm busy."

The door opened and Aubrey came in wearing a lab coat. She was holding the ends of the lab coat closed, her bare legs were crossed at the ankles. "Miss Conrad, it has come to my attention that you've been working really hard lately and, as your most loyal employee, I thought I'd come up here and show you my appreciation."

Aubrey walked to the other side of the desk slowly. Stacie swiveled in her chair and Aubrey moved to stand in between her legs. "And how are you planning to show your appreciation Miss… ?"

"Posen, Aubrey Posen." Aubrey leaned forward, placing her mouth next to Stacie's ear. "And I'm sure I can find something you'll like."

A shiver went down Stacie's body at the huskiness in Aubrey's voice. She swallowed hard and put covered Aubrey's hand over the lab coat. She fiddled with the ring on Aubrey's finger. "I don't think your fiance would appreciate you throwing yourself at your boss, Miss Posen."

"My fiance knows I would do anything for my boss." She took a step back and closed Stacie's legs, straddling her and putting her hands on her shoulders.

As soon as she let go of it, the lab coat fell open. Stacie gasped when the only thing she saw under the lab coat was Aubrey's skin. She ran her hand from the hollow of her throat to her belly button. "Bree." Her name escaped Stacie's lips almost silently, reverently.

Her hands moved to Aubrey's waist, her thumbs brushing over her ribs. She looked up at Aubrey and started kissing down her sternum. "Baby, I love this but I still have tons of work to do."

Aubrey tangled her fingers in her hair. Stacie turned her head and kissed the side of Aubrey's breast. "You can keep working tomorrow."

Aubrey pushed herself up on her knees and stretched her body against Stacie's. Stacie's hands slid down to her thighs and her mouth moved to the top of her abdomen. Stacie moaned against her skin. "Babe, I'm serious." Stacie continued kissing every inch of Aubrey's skin she could reach. "I have to finish this; I need to check everything before it goes to the SEC on Friday."

Aubrey sat back again and pouted. "I've barely seen you this week."

Stacie reached behind her and pulled her close, kissing Aubrey's pouty lower lip. "I know, baby, and I'm sorry."

Aubrey framed Stacie's face with her hands and kissed her slowly. She pulled on Stacie's lower lip with her teeth a couple of times before running her tongue over it. She tilted her head, her tongue exploring the inside of Stacie's mouth, her hands moving down to unbutton her shirt. When she was finished, she stood up from Stacie's lap without breaking the kiss, her hands moving under Stacie's shirt on her shoulders and down her arms, removing the shirt.

She kissed Stacie a couple of more times before pulling back with a mischievous grin. She hopped on the desk in front of Stacie and spread her legs. She reached up and removed her hair tie, letting her hair flow over her shoulders with a shake of her head. "I think you can take a small break to fuck me on your desk." She put her index finger in her mouth and sucked on it. She released the digit with a loud pop and moved it down her body towards her center. "Or I can just do it myself and you can watch."

Stacie was frozen, entranced by the finger currently moving down Aubrey's body. She'd never seen anything hotter in her life than Aubrey sitting on her desk in nothing but a lab coat. As Aubrey's finger was passing in between her breasts, she ran her other hand up from her lower abdomen to cup one of them. When her finger reached her belly button, Aubrey pinched her nipple and moaned, her legs spreading wider in front of Stacie.

Stacie placed her hands on Aubrey's knees and started rubbing circles on her inner thighs with her thumbs. She started inching her hands up her legs, while Aubrey's finger continued its downward path. Aubrey stopped just before touching her center and Stacie looked up. Aubrey quirked an eyebrow at her and the brunette nodded. Aubrey's finger moved lower and she touched herself, the hand on her breast squeezing firmly.

Stacie watched as Aubrey moved her finger slowly, her own hands moving higher and higher on Aubrey's thighs. The blonde let out a low moan and Stacie leaned forward. "Stop."

Aubrey's finger stilled and she moved it away from herself. Stacie grabbed Aubrey's wrist and moved forward to suck on Aubrey's finger, tasting her. Aubrey moaned again, as Stacie swirled her tongue around her finger. Stacie pulled back and gently bit the tip of Aubrey's finger before letting it go. She moved Aubrey's hand to the edge of the desk and scooted forward in her chair.

Stacie planted a kiss on the inside of Aubrey's right knee and started moving up her thigh slowly. She stopped a few times, biting on the soft skin on Aubrey's thigh and enjoying the sound of Aubrey's increasingly labored breathing. By the time she reached the apex of her legs, Aubrey was panting. Stacie looked up at the blonde grinning, as she placed featherlight kisses on her lower abdomen. Aubrey's hand moved from the desk to the top of Stacie's head, massaging her scalp lightly, her other hand was still holding her own breast.

Stacie's kisses got closer and closer to Aubrey's center. Aubrey squirmed on the desk, scooting closer to the edge and Stacie's mouth. Stacie smirked against her skin and moved Aubrey's legs over her shoulders.

Aubrey moved the hand on her breast to the desk, leaning back. The hand on Stacie's head tugged lightly at her hair, pulling her closer.

At the first swipe of Stacie's tongue, Aubrey arched her back and moaned. Stacie paused for a moment before swiping her tongue again, this time swirling it around Aubrey's bundle of nerves and then moving it down to her entrance. She continued moving her tongue and brought her hand up, circling Aubrey's entrance with one finger before entering her. Aubrey whimpered and scooted closer to Stacie's mouth, her hand tightening in Stacie's hair. Stacie pulled her finger out and used two fingers on the next stroke and curling them inside of her.

She moved her fingers in and out in long, slow strokes, her mouth working on her bundle of nerves, alternating between short flicks with her tongue and surrounding it with her lips and sucking lightly.

"Stace." Stacie couldn't tell if it was a warning or a plea, but she added another finger and moved her tongue in fast circles. Aubrey leaned her weight behind her and lifted her hips off the desk, her heels digging into Stacie's back. She cried out and Stacie felt Aubrey's muscles contracting around her fingers and her body twitching against her mouth.

She stopped moving her fingers inside Aubrey, her tongue moving slower until Aubrey's hips fell back onto the desk heavily. She removed her fingers and started kissing up Aubrey's body, standing up from her chair and wrapping her arms around her inside the lab coat. Aubrey was still leaning back with her eyes closed when Stacie got to her neck. She blinked her eyes open slowly but closed them back when Stacie sucked on her pulsepoint. She pushed her weight forward and wrapped her arms around Stacie's shoulders.

Stacie kissed up Aubrey's jaw to her lips, kissing her slowly. She moved to the other side of her jaw and kissed back down to her neck. She moved one of her hands to her back and the other one to her stomach. She pecked Aubrey's lips lazily a couple of times before pulling back and standing straight between Aubrey's legs. "I have to get back to work, babe."

Aubrey scratched the back of Stacie's neck. "Can I stay here? I don't like sleeping without you."

Stacie smiled and kissed her before sitting back down. "Of course. Just not on the desk."

Aubrey jumped off the desk and moved to her lap. "How about here?"

Stacie chuckled and nuzzled Aubrey's neck. "Couch." She kissed Aubrey's neck a couple of times and pushed her off her lap.

Aubrey flopped down on the couch, draping her arm lazily behind her head and looked at Stacie. "You look really hot working without your shirt on."

Stacie smirked but didn't look away from the screen. "Should I put it on?"

"No, you're good."

Stacie pressed her thighs together. She was uncomfortably turned on and she couldn't get through reading a single sentence without her mind wandering to the barely clothed blonde sprawled on her couch.

Aubrey stretched on the couch with a long, contented moan and Stacie couldn't help looking in her direction. The lab coat Aubrey was wearing was mostly open and it barely covered anything. Stacie looked at Aubrey's chest rising and falling with every breath she took. "Stace." Stacie looked up at Aubrey's face. "You're not working."

Stacie looked at her computer again. The cursor blinking accusingly on the line she had tried to read a ridiculous number of times already. She saved her work and closed the document. She kicked off her shoes and stood up, walking over to the couch. She stood next to Aubrey's body and pulled down her skirt and underwear together. "You're too distracting."

She straddled Aubrey, reaching behind herself to take off her bra. Aubrey ran her hands up her stomach, over her toned ab muscles, feeling them twitch beneath her fingers. Stacie moved forward, placing her hands on either side of Aubrey's head and hovering over her.

Aubrey lifted one of her legs and Stacie straddled her thigh. Aubrey gasped when she felt how wet Stacie was as the brunette grinded down on her, moaning. Aubrey moved her hands to Stacie's back, tracing her spine with her fingertips.

Stacie leaned down to kiss Aubrey as her hips kept moving in circles, her center sliding on the blonde's leg. Aubrey dropped her leg and Stacie whimpered, breaking the kiss and pouting at Aubrey. Aubrey chuckled and moved a hand in between Stacie's legs, running her fingers on her center with a light touch. Stacie whimpered again and tried to move closer to Aubrey's hand but she moved it away. "Bree, please."

Aubrey pushed up on her elbow to kiss Stacie at the same time as she plunged her fingers inside of her. Stacie kissed her back forcefully, trying to keep her hips still as Aubrey's fingers pumped in and out of her.

Stacie pulled back from the kiss and Aubrey looked at her. Her eyes were shut tight and her brow was furrowed. She wanted to touch her but she was using her arm to hold herself up and her other hand was busy curling inside of her. She scooted down, her hand managing to go deeper with each stroke making Stacie arch her back and throw her head back. Aubrey smiled and pushed herself higher with her arm so she could take one of Stacie's nipples into her mouth.

Stacie looked down, surprised when she felt the warmth of Aubrey's mouth surrounding her nipple. Aubrey moved her tongue around it a few times, flicking the sensitive tip. She scraped her teeth softly over it and then surrounded it with her lips, sucking.

Stacie's knees gave out for a second, making the heel of Aubrey's hand hit a sensitive spot, making her cry out. Aubrey repositioned her hand so she could hit it every time she pushed her fingers into Stacie. Stacie's arms started shaking and she turned the top of her body so she wouldn't crush Aubrey if she fell. Aubrey turned with Stacie, and kissed her way back up her body.

Stacie buried her face on Aubrey's neck and pressed her body against the back of the couch. Now that she wasn't using both hands to hold herself up, she moved her hand in between their bodies, her fingers finding Aubrey's center and entering her. Aubrey let out a surprised, high pitched, breathy moan.

Aubrey pushed her hand harder against Stacie's center, the back of her hand pressing up as her fingers curled inside of her. Stacie's body shook against her and Stacie bit down on her shoulder. The combination of pain and pleasure made Aubrey tumble after Stacie, her body pressing tightly against the brunette's and trapping their arms in between their bodies.

Stacie kissed the bite on Aubrey's shoulder a couple of times and lifted her head to watch Aubrey. Her eyes were still closed and her mouth was slightly parted. Stacie kissed her forehead, down her nose and cheeks, until she got to her lips. Aubrey kissed her back lazily. Stacie chuckled and rubbed her back. "Did I break you?"

Aubrey shook her head and opened her eyes. "You're just really good at that, I need a nap if we're doing that again."

Stacie smirked and kissed her again. "How about we go home and sleep. We can do it again in the morning."

Aubrey frowned. "What about your work?"

Stacie shrugged. "I can finish tomorrow."

Aubrey nodded and Stacie climbed over her and off the couch. She started putting on her clothes and looked at Aubrey still lying on the couch in her lab coat. "You have clothes somewhere, right? You didn't go out wearing just that."

"Of course I do, don't be silly. I left them on Jess' desk." Aubrey stood up and handed Stacie her shoes.

"And you got naked outside my office?" Stacie wrapped her arms around Aubrey. "How scandalous."

Aubrey laughed. "Babe, I think what we did on your desk was way more scandalous than me changing out there."

"Yeah but there's a door. One of the night guards could have seen you there."

Aubrey shook her head. "I told them to not come up to this floor until we left." Aubrey stifled a yawn on Stacie's shoulder. "How are you not tired, you've been up since 6 am. Did you have coffee?"

"I had you, you're better than coffee." She kissed Aubrey's nose.

Aubrey pushed her away and walked to the door. "Cheese ball."

Stacie hurried to put on her shoes and follow her out. "You love me."

Aubrey was already getting dressed when she got outside. "I don't, I'm just marrying you for your money. And the sex."

"I'll take that if it means I can have you forever."

Aubrey finished getting dressed and wrapped her arms around Stacie, kissing her softly. "Forever and a day."


End file.
